Veterinary School - Degrees

Degrees

There are several types of degrees that aspiring vets can earn; these differ according to country and may involve undergraduate or graduate education. For example, in the United States, schools award the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree (DVM), and the same degree is awarded in Bangladesh, Canada, Ethiopia, Hungary, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Tobago and Trinidad. Many countries offer a degree equivalent to the North American DVM. In the United Kingdom, and in many countries which have adopted the undergraduate system of higher education in which a bachelor's degree is equivalent to a DVM (albeit after five or six years of study, not four), an appropriate degree is conferred ( Bachelor of Veterinary Science, Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery etc.). In Ireland, the Veterinary Medicine Programme at the University College Dublin awards the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (MVB) At the University of Edinburgh, the degree is the Bachelor's of Veterinary Medicine & Surgery (BVM&S). Some veterinary schools, however, offer a degree which enables the recipient to practice veterinary medicine in the home country but which does not permit the individual to even sit for a licensure exam in another nation. For example, veterinary schools in Afghanistan only offer the Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. Ethiopia awards the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, but the degree is not recognized in the US or Western Europe due to the low quality of education provided by Ethiopian veterinary schools.

About 50% of Veterinarians own their own business as soon as they graduate from school. Nearly every country in the world requires an individual with a veterinary degree to be licensed prior to practicing in the profession. Most countries require a non-national who holds a veterinary degree to pass a separate licensure exam for foreign graduates prior to practicing veterinary medicine. In the US, for example, the Educational Commission for Foreign Veterinary Graduates (ECFVG) administers a four-step examination which is accepted by all American state and territorial veterinary licensing boards, the US federal government, and the District of Columbia. In Europe, the European Parliament, which has some jurisdiction over the member states of the European Union (EU), issued a directive on September 30, 2005, which provides for EU-wide standards for veterinary medical education and mutual recognition of veterinary degrees between member states meeting these standards. Licensure requirements are diverse, however. In South Africa, the Veterinary and Para-Veterinary Professions Act, Act 19 of 1982 provides for automatic licensure if an individual has graduated from one of several universities in South Africa, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom (as of 2008, these include the University of Pretoria, Medical University of South Africa, Massey University, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Liverpool, and the University of London) or has passed the veterinary licensure examination administered by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. All other persons are required to pass an examination and register with the South African Veterinary Council. India has a similar system in which degrees awarded by certain schools are "deemed" to automatically qualify an individual to practice veterinary medicine, but has forgone an exam in favor of state tribunals which investigate credentials and can add a veterinarian to the register of licensed practitioners.