IVSA at the OiE Global Conference on Veterinary Education By Bhavisha Patel SCoVE Chair, 2015 / 2016
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On the 22 nd to the 24 th of June 2016, IVSA Officials Anil Türer, Bhavisha Patel, and Malcolm Chong were invited to represent veterinary students globally at the OiE Global Veterinary Education Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. They were in the company of world leaders of education and deans of vet schools from across the globe.
Anil Türer, president of IVSA Global, and Bhavisha Patel, Chair of the Standing Committee on Veterinary Education( SCoVE) presented results from a survey asking students‘ how they perceive vet school?’ They both presented the findings of the survey and how‘ The new generation wants to learn?’
One of the key findings is a change in behaviour among the new generation of veterinary students, with an overwhelming preference to choose a career that they would be happy in( 90 %) rather than gaining financial success. Students are now becoming more aware of the diversity of careers out there, particularly with a strong interest in One Health. However, 75 % of participants maintained their motivation to be a practicing veterinarian, with others interested in veterinary public health, research and NGO careers.
They discussed the importance of communication of the course structure to students and providing feedback. They encouraged educators to continue to provide feedback to students and provide support on the more challenging aspects of vet school. Feedback is no good unless the necessary support network is there to facilitate a student’ s progress to be competent in all the necessary skills.
They also discussed that 70 % of students agreed that the workload in the veterinary course in excessive, with 9 % agreeing that there was an uneven distribution of workload. Suggestions for improvement includes: more practicals, better communication between departments, less repetition, more personalization and prioritization of subject teaching, and more focus on important subjects, particularly applied knowledge and soft skills.
We emphasized that Universities should be using creative, adaptive and balanced teaching methods to the learning / cognitive abilities of each individual student in the class. IVSA encourages sending surveys to students on how they learn and present lectures on different learning methods. Following onto that, Universities can then adapt the predominant teaching method to the learning abilities of the students. From this survey, students were found to prefer better communicating teachers, more inspirational tutors, and more practical and modern teaching methods.
In conclusion, students’ interests are changing and what they are exposed to is changing too. Education should be as evolved and adaptive as the veterinary profession is to our developing society. Our presentation and results from the survey did have an impact on the audience and are keen to make improvements to the education system based on our findings.
It was generally a great experience to be part of this conference and to voice the opinion of the students and for IVSA to grow bigger and network with world leaders in veterinary medicine. IVSA will continue to release surveys and seek your opinion of vet school so that we can communicate to educators where the curriculum improvement.
We will continue to collaborate with educators and professionals on behalf of veterinary students globally. This experience is just one of many to support students.