Congresses
Almost all international organizations organize a congress/symposium, some together with their GA, some separately.
I will highlight a few of these congresses because they are great experiences and are open to veterinary students (except for the GA parts).
WSAVA congress 2015 – Bangkok
In May I attended the WSAVA congress 2015 that was held in Bangkok, Thailand. This time I wasn’t alone! I had 36 IVSA student volunteers with me. It was great to share my experience with others. I still was the only one at the GA and most of the evening events but it was great to hang out with them when I could. The WSAVA congress, together with FAVA and AVMA, was definitely one of my favorite events of the year. WSAVA organizes lecture streams with all possible subjects you can think of; One Health, Animal Welfare, Economics, Surgery, Emergency, Neurology, Cardiology, etc. given by great lecturers from all over the world. They have a reduced fee rate for students and they offer free registration for IVSA volunteers. I can highly recommend anyone to attend the next WSAVA congress 2016 in Cartagena, Colombia. It is not only a unique experience for your veterinary education but also a unique opportunity to learn about the veterinary profession and meet so many great people.
AVMA convention is a similar experience held in the USA. Again, they offer reduced rates for students and they also offer scholarships for international students. Make sure you check out their website for the next AVMA Convention.
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IFISO Meeting
IFISO stands for the Informal Forum for International Student Organisations.
It’s a meeting where the leaders of international student organisations (in all fields) get together to share ‘Best Practices’ and learn from each other. Even though we were all from different fields of study (veterinary medicine, law, geography, economics, etc.) we could all learn from each other since our organisations are run in similar ways. When you discuss amongst students, it is a lot easier to ask for help and advice and ask specific questions. This has helped IVSA a lot over the last few years to overcome problems and to improve the way we run IVSA.
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Vet Youth Summit Japan
IVSA Japan organized a 4-day event in Osaka, Japan for around 30 international students.
These events are extremely valuable; the more events IVSA organizes, the more students get to experience them. If more local IVSAs (Member Organizations; MOs) would organize events like this one, more students could see how much we can accomplish as students together and more students will benefit and learn more about veterinary medicine outside of their veterinary curriculum in their university. I personally enjoyed the event a lot. Coming from Western Europe, Japan is a very different culture and I would not want to experience it with anyone else than the amazing veterinary students I met there. Experiencing other cultures and other perspectives on veterinary medicine broadens your horizon and helps you develop as a person, in a way the education in your own faculty can’t give you. I therefore want to encourage all MOs to consider organizing an international event!
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Events Attended
Events attended by the President 2014-2015
World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA)
World Congress 2014 (South Africa)
World Congress 2015 (Thailand)
Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE)
Annual Congress (Romania)
One Health event (Belgium)
NEAT network (with James Bost)
Federation of Asian Veterinary Associations (FAVA)
IVSA symposium UK&Ireland
Vet Youth Summit
Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA)
International Veterinary Forum
IVSA Istanbul
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
European Association for Establishments for Veterinary Education
IFISO
European Commission
EXPO Milan conference (Italy)
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
IVSA congress Romania
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Events attended by other IVSA members
IFISO Meeting in Serbia – James Bost
UIA Round Table in South Korea – Henry Huang
NAVC 2015 in USA – Jennifer Hollé
IFMSA pre-GA workshops – Aqil Jeenah & Kasia
IFMSA GA in Turkey – Anil Türer
WHO Executive Board Meeting – Aqil Jeenah
IVSA Asia event in South Korea – Kayleigh-Anne Norman
If you’re interested in attending an event, look on the IVSA website to see what events are coming up or send me an email at [email protected]