Free event next week to find out more about Lancashire’s first Vet School opening at UCLan

Veterinary Education for the Next Generation takes place on 26 January
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A free event to discuss the opening of Lancashire’s first Veterinary School is taking place next week and is open to the public.

The University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) newly created Vet School, which is only the 11th in England and 2nd in the North West, will welcome its first students in September.

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Based at UCLan’s Preston Campus, the new Veterinary School, which sees the University collaborate with Myerscough College and local veterinary partners, will deliver foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

A free event to discuss UCLan's new Vet School is taking place next Wednesday.A free event to discuss UCLan's new Vet School is taking place next Wednesday.
A free event to discuss UCLan's new Vet School is taking place next Wednesday.

Such courses will include veterinary medicine, bioveterinary science, veterinary clinical practice, veterinary physiotherapy and rehabilitation, and clinical animal behaviour and training.

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UCLan to launch first Lancashire vet school to tackle shortage of animal doctors

The free talk next Wednesday (January 26), entitled Veterinary Education for the Next Generation, will be held at Myerscough College in Croxteth, and will outline current challenges within the veterinary profession and veterinary education.

Specifically, the organisers say the talk will discuss the approach to developing an integrated, skills-based veterinary curriculum as a potential solution to meeting the expectations of veterinary employers, and the opportunities for collaboration and partnership that this approach offers.

The new vet school will be part of UCLan's Faculty of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences.The new vet school will be part of UCLan's Faculty of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences.
The new vet school will be part of UCLan's Faculty of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences.
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It will be jointly presented by UCLan’s Dr Heather Bacon, Senior Clinical Veterinary Lecturer, and Claire Bloor, Head of Veterinary Nursing at Myerscough’s University Centre.

Arrivals for the talk are from 5.30pm, with the presentation starting at 6.00pm at Myerscough’s Bowland Suite, and you can reserve your place on Eventbrite here.

UCLan first announced it was launching a Veterinary School back in June 2021, as a way to tackle the growing shortage of animal doctors nationally.

Speaking at the time, UCLan's Dr Heather Bacon, who is leading the development of the Vet School, said: "There is a definite shortage of vets across the UK.

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"That shortage is causing problems for the profession, for the general public and for food safety and security because vets have an important role in safeguarding the food chain.

“We are planning to start off the veterinary programme fairly small - about 40 to 50 initially - because we want to get it right.

“Then we will be growing the student numbers. But it isn’t a quick process and it will be 2028 before our first students graduate.”

Meanwhile Garstang vet Alan Pearson welcomed the announcement as “a feather in the cap for UCLan” and said: “I think it’s great news for Lancashire and for UCLan, if they can make it work.”