Accrediting veterinary degrees

The RCVS has a wide ranging interest in veterinary education and training. It has a statutory duty to set and monitor the standards of veterinary degrees for registration purposes, and runs the statutory examination for membership for overseas veterinarians wishing to practise in the UK.

Setting and monitoring the standards for veterinary education is a key responsibility of the RCVS. The RCVS defines the competences that need to be met by the new veterinary graduate, and specifies the requirements for veterinary degree courses to be approved for registration purposes. The RCVS undertakes formal visitations to universities to ensure that veterinary degree standards are being maintained, and for UK universities, reports its recommendations to the Privy Council.

Accreditation Status of UK Veterinary Schools

For more information, please click on the relevant link below:

• Visitations (including latest visitation reports)
• Accreditation Standards
• Day One Competences 
• RCVS Panel Members
• Extra-mural Studies (EMS)

In 2014, the RCVS published the Fitness to Practise guide for UK veterinary schools and veterinary students.

It provides guidance for veterinary schools on recognising and addressing fitness to practise concerns, and also sets out the broad principles of fitness to practise that students should follow and which veterinary schools should expect and uphold.

* There is provision within the Veterinary Surgeons Act (VSA), where a university does not yet have a Recognition Order (RO), that RCVS may be directed by the King’s Privy Council to hold examinations for students and that those who pass are then entitled to register as Members of the RCVS.  When considering the first graduating cohort of a new veterinary programme, the RCVS is invited by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to appoint External Examiners (EEs) who have decision-making authority over the final pass list. These exams can then be deemed to be a RCVS examination for the purpose of the VSA, with the graduates meeting the requirements for Day One Competency and registration