Temporary EMS requirements

We have introduced temporary EMS requirements for UK veterinary students, in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The minimum requirements for each year group are detailed below.

The temporary changes to EMS policy will continue to be kept under review at each Education Committee meeting for the foreseeable future, and may be subject to further change based on knock-on effects of placement availability caused by restrictions put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic. This page will be updated if and when changes are agreed.

Last updated: 13 September 2022

For more information, please contact the Education Team: [email protected] / 020 7202 0791

Summary of temporary requirements

A summary of the temporary requirements is as follows. Each year group will not be prevented from graduating should they have met the minimum required weeks and supplementary online EMS (if required), in addition to demonstrating that they have achieved all of the RCVS Day One Competences.

(The requirements for the University of Nottingham April cohorts are also determined by the year they graduate, i.e. those who started in April 2020 and due to graduate in December 2024 will be included within the class of 2024 group.) 

For students from the University of Cambridge only:

Rules around intercalation and suspended studies

Students intercalating during Pre-Clinical EMS years / prior to Clinical EMS years

Students that are currently in their pre-clinical years prior to commencing to the clinical years and will be intercalating during the academic year of 2022-23, would be expected to meet the requirements of the year group that they are graduating with when they re-join the course.

Students intercalating during Clinical EMS years

Students who were intercalating during the academic years of 2019-20 and/or 2020-21 and not registered as veterinary students at that time, would be expected to meet the requirements of the year group that they are graduating with when they re-join the course.

Students that are currently in their clinical years and are, or will be, intercalating during the academic year of 2021-22 and onwards, would still be expected to meet the same requirements of the year group that they started the course in, rather than the year group that they are graduating with.

Students suspending their studies

Students that are currently in their clinical years and are, or will be, taking time out of their studies during the academic year of 2021-22 and onwards, and are not registered as veterinary students at that time, would still be expected to meet the same requirements of the year group that they started the course in, rather than the year group that they are graduating with.

Students resitting assessments

Resitting students, who are delayed by a year in order to complete that year’s assessment cycle, and are not registered as veterinary students at that time, would still be expected to meet the same requirements of the year group that they started the course in, rather than the year group that they are graduating with.

Students repeating academic years

Students that are repeating a year for any reason would be expected to meet the same requirements of the year group that they started the course in, rather than the year group they are graduating with.

All requirements will still be reviewed on an on-going basis moving forward until restrictions put in place due to the pandemic have been lifted.

Requirements by Year Group

Graduating Class of 2023

The requirement of 26 weeks’ clinical EMS has been reduced by 13 weeks, to 13 weeks in total for those graduating in in 2023.

Recognising that the reduction in clinical EMS placements may leave some gaps in the intended learning objectives for this cohort, which may disadvantage them when entering the workplace compared to if they had been able to complete the full 26 weeks’ experience, we recommend that students can use online learning resources to support the achievement of their learning objectives. These resources should help students around the learning objectives they may have missed as a result of the reduced EMS requirement, but it is not expected that these are time-bound.

To be clear – this is about using online resources to support students achieving their overall EMS learning objectives, they are not expected to carry out 13 weeks’ worth of online learning in this second category of online work.

During the pandemic it may be possible to include a limited number of ‘online’ or ‘virtual’ EMS placements as part of this, but these would need to be directly related to a veterinary workplace environment and hours of learning equivalent to that which is being claimed for in terms of weeks. One example is the RCVS Edward Jenner programme recently rolled out to support 3rd year students – the number of learning (CPD) hours for this course has been specifically validated, and the teaching takes place directly within the context of the veterinary practice environment.

Although not currently specified in the EMS guidance, to help clarity and consistency across schools we would envisage around 2-4 weeks of specific online / virtual placements such as this as being suitable as part of the 13 weeks’ EMS veterinary work placements.

The pre-clinical EMS requirements for those due to graduate in 2023 was  amended to allow for 50% of the 12 weeks pre-clinical EMS to be completed through appropriate online resources. Therefore students would have been expected to have completed at least 6 weeks of pre-clinical EMS placements in person (in a workplace environment), with the learning outcomes which would have been achieved on up to 6 weeks of pre-clinical EMS, to be achieved through online resources. 

Graduating Classes of 2024 

The requirement of 26 weeks’ clinical EMS has been reduced by 6 weeks, to 20 weeks in total for those graduating in in 2024.

The pre-clinical EMS requirements for those due to graduate in 2024 was  amended to allow for 50% of the 12 weeks pre-clinical EMS to be completed through appropriate online resources. Therefore students would have expected to have completed at least 6 weeks of pre-clinical EMS placements in person (in a workplace environment), with the learning outcomes which would have been achieved on up to 6 weeks of pre-clinical EMS, to be achieved through online resources.

Graduating Classes of 2025 

The pre-clinical EMS requirements for those due to graduate in  2025 was amended to allow for 50% of the 12 weeks pre-clinical EMS to be completed through appropriate online resources. Therefore students would have been expected to have completed at least 6 weeks of pre-clinical EMS placements in person (in a workplace environment), with the learning outcomes which would have been achieved on up to 6 weeks of pre-clinical EMS, to be achieved through online resources. The objectives will be agreed individually between the student and tutor.

The requirement for clinical EMS is currently set at the standard amount of 26 weeks.

Graduating Classes of 2026 and 2027

The pre-clinical EMS requirements for those due to graduate in 2026 and 2027 will be the standard requirement of 12 weeks.  This requirement will continue to be considered going forward in the periodic reviews.  

Footnote

Please note that the temporary amendments to EMS policy above have been introduced in recognition that EMS placements were mostly  unavailable during lockdown, and fewer opportunities may be available following restrictions being removed. However, if students can safely access more than the minimum number of EMS weeks outlined above, we would urge them to do so as this experience is invaluable for their professional development.