The Deans of faculties and schools of veterinary medicine or sciences of southern and eastern Africa met for the third time since 2009, as a side-event of the World Veterinary Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. The first day of the meeting enabled participants to further the agenda with regard to the quality and the quantity of graduating veterinary surgeons in the years to come.
Prof. John Munene, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Nairobi in Kenya. Picture © P. Bastiaensen (oie) 2011
Topics such as the free access of veterinarians of the region to exercise their profession in other countries of the region, day-1 competences, internal and external audits, the twinning programme and new technologies with regard to university-level education were discussed. This meeting, financially supported by OIE since 2009, brought together Deans from Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The second day of the meeting was dedicated to consultations with representatives of the Veterinary Statutory Bodies (veterinary councils) from Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The discussions focused on the interactions between the qualifications of the veterinary surgeons that graduate from the universities on the one hand and the requirements of the veterinary councils on the other hand.
The next joint meeting will take place in Kenya in April 2012, at the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
All pictures © P. Bastiaensen (oie) 2011
