The University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science has been granted full accreditation status by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Council on Education following a site visit earlier this year.
From its inception in 1904, the School of Veterinary Science became the first veterinary school in the United Kingdom to be incorporated into a university and in 1941 the UK’s first veterinary field station was established at the current 360-acre Leahurst Campus (11 miles away from Liverpool on the beautiful Wirral Peninsula).
Today, most of the school’s clinical facilities are located on the Leahurst site, including two teaching hospitals, two ambulatory clinics, two working farms (beef, sheep, pigs and dairy), alongside research and diagnostic services for microbiology, diagnostic pathology, clinical pathology and post-mortem. A new Small Animal Teaching Hospital was constructed at Leahurst in 2007 and treats over 10,000 patients per year. The Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital built in the late 1990s, is one of the busiest and most successful equine referral hospitals in the UK, treating over 2,000 patients per year.
In addition to accreditation by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the School is also accredited by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC), the South African Veterinary Council (SAVC) and the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE).
The BVSc program currently accepts around 170 UK students and aims to offer up to 20 places per year for non-UK residents. The curriculum is designed to produce veterinarians with a strong range of Day-One competencies in all three major domestic species areas: equine, small animals and livestock / food production.
Professor Paul Lunn, Dean of the School said: “As a former graduate of the Liverpool programme, I am delighted that the Council on Education has awarded us the AVMA accreditation. Approaching our 120-year anniversary at Liverpool, this exciting news will open up the opportunity for us to train students from across the world. Achieving the AVMA accreditation is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our staff and the wonderful engagement of our student body.”