Students and graduates from the University of Alberta’s ag faculty are increasing their share of the number of veterinary school spaces available to Alberta residents.
The U of A’s faculty of agricultural, life and environmental sciences (ALES) said in a release Thursday that out of 20 first-year spaces reserved for Alberta residents at Saskatoon’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM), 14 are now filled by ALES students and alums.
Another three WCVM entrants who are from Saskatchewan were also ALES students or grads, the U of A noted.
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The four western provinces have funding contracts with the WCVM, guaranteeing Alberta and Saskatchewan each 20 spaces, along with 15 for B.C. and 13 for Manitoba.
Furthermore, the U of A said, out of 30 first-year spaces at the University of Calgary’s recently-launched faculty of veterinary medicine, ALES grads have eight.
“That’s 22 spots out of 50 from our faculty and an additional three when you count the Saskatchewan residents,” said ALES’s Craig Wilkinson, noting that’s a new record for the U of A faculty.
Another 10 students from other U of A faculties were accepted to the vet programs this year, he noted, bringing up the university total to 35 overall.
New degree
Wilkinson is chairing the committee setting up U of A’s new animal health degree program, for which it will offer admission to current U of A students in January, then open it up to everyone else the following September.
In recent years, the entire U of A would generally have up to eight to 10 students admitted at the WCVM, up from three or four during the 1980s and 1990s. With the additional spaces available in vet schools for Alberta residents, ALES has “seized the opportunity to prepare more students for admission,” the faculty said.
“The last few years, we’ve had an increasing number of students working with researchers in our animal research units during the summer. That helps a lot since they gain valuable experience with livestock or poultry,” Wilkinson said.
“We’ve also developed a number of new courses including Animal Science 375,” in which students are exposed to a wide range of animal health issues, he said. “We’ve brought in new animal behaviour and welfare courses as well as an animal immunology course.”
“Our emphasis on experiential learning and on having smaller class sizes that foster close interactions between students and professors ensures that students are well prepared to enter a veterinary medicine program,” ALES dean John Kennelly said in the same release.
The curriculum for U of A’s new animal health degree program is expected to provide, among other things, a “strong route” to vet programs, the university said.
