F E AT U R E
Veterinarian: A Bachelor’s
Degree in Veterinary Medicine
and least five years of
experience for laboratory and
diagnostic purposes. Nationals
require a two years experience
at least.
Veterinarian Assistant:
Bachelor’s degree and a two
years experience, Excluding
UAE Nationals.
Vet Laboratory Technician:
Two academic post
secondary years, or a diploma
with minimum two years
experience, excluding UAE
nationals.
Veterinary Nurse: General
High School Certificate or an
equivalent certificate with at
least one year of experience,
excluding nationals of the UAE.
(From the Ministry of
Environment and Water
website. For more information,
visit www.moew.gov.ae)
Veterinary academic
programs offered now and
with this growth in the industry,
passionate people who have
dreamt to provide medical
services to animals in the
country will not have to let it
remain a dream anymore.
United Arab Emirates University
(UAEU) will now be offering
an accredited Bachelors
program specializing in
Veterinary Medicine at the
university’s College of Food
and Agriculture. Keeping in
view the increasing need of
animal-related medications,
UAEU gave the green signal for
the program at the previous
University Council meeting
which was headed by the
Chancellor of the University
and the Minister of Higher
Education and Scientific
Research, His Highness Shaikh
Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al
Nahyan. No higher education
institute has seen the likes of
such a degree in the country
before.
The length of this degree is
set to be five years inclusive
of both theory and practical
content. Graduates will have
qualifications of the same
level of any other international
institute that offers a similar
program.
Petigree contacted Dr.
Sameeh M. Abu Tarbush, the
Chair of Veterinary Medicine
Department of the College of
Food and Agriculture at UAEU
to get more insight into this
program. A degree related
to veterinary studies is pretty
much alien to the academic
lobbies in the country. He let
us in on what became the
motivation behind the idea to
start this program.
“Only civilized communities
recognize the necessity for
veterinary education, and
this comes in agreement with
the wise Emirati vision towards
education advancement.
The College of Food and
Agriculture at UAEU has been
receiving continuous and
unrelenting support from the
higher administration,” said Dr.
Sameeh.
“Veterinary medicine is a
strategic profession that serves
in the first frontier of human
and animal protection against
devastating infectious and
zoonotic diseases. It ensures
providing humans with safe
food, protects the national
security and contributes
highly to the concept of ‘one
world one health.’ There is a
high demand for veterinary
medicine profession and
national veterinarians, in the
country, and currently very
few are present that hold
administrative positions. The
vision of this department is
to provide the country with
well-rounded, highly qualified
veterinarians, trained for
different filed disciplines,
as needed,” he further
elaborated.
According to Dr. Sameeh, the
response from youth to the
news that such a program
will soon be offered was
really positive. Describing this
encouraging response, he
stated, “Our students are very
excited about the program
and for some of them it is a
dream that has come true.
Veterinary medicine is a nice
and enjoyable profession that
suits male and female students.
Few fields of Veterinary
medicine profession are tough
and need man power, while
in the majority of the fields
females and males have equal
opportunity of success and job
self-satisfaction.”
On field opportunities for
students
The kind of job market that
the graduates are released
into is a significant factor
that will decide the success
of the program. Expressing
confidence and optimism
that ample opportunities will
await the students once they
graduate, Dr. Sameeh asserted,
“During the five years of the
veterinary medicine degree
program, there are several
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