International Accreditors Working Group to meet in London
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The AVMA Executive Board during an Oct. 25 conference call authorized an AVMA delegation to participate in an International Accreditors Working Group meeting Jan. 23-24, 2014, in London.
In 2007, the AVMA Council on Education, Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and Australasian Veterinary Boards Council agreed during a meeting in Melbourne, Australia, to explore a process of conducting joint accreditation site visits at veterinary schools that were being accredited separately by each of the three entities.
Toward that end, an International Accreditors Working Group was formed and met in 2007 and 2011. Each of the three parent organizations approved a plan proposed at the 2011 meeting to conduct four joint site visits by 2014 in accordance with AVMA COE guidelines and standards. Three visits have been completed, with the fourth scheduled for early 2014 to Massey University in New Zealand.
The RCVS will host the meeting, which will precede an AVMA COE site visit to University College Dublin School of Veterinary Medicine, saving travel costs.
The AVMA delegation will comprise the current and immediate past AVMA staff consultants to the COE, Drs. Karen Martens Brandt and David E. Granstrom; one COE member who was selected by the council, Dr. John R. Pascoe (who is also the COE representative to the AVMA Committee on International Veterinary Affairs); the AVMA associate director for international and diversity initiatives, Dr. Beth Sabin; and, if they accept the invitation, one representative each from the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges and Canadian VMA, funded by their respective organizations.
The RCVS has invited the South African Veterinary Council and the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education to the January meeting as observers.
The agenda will include discussions on continuation of the joint site visit approach, refinement of that process, and future directions for veterinary accreditation.
The COE sees ongoing cooperation with the RCVS and AVBC in joint site visits—with each accrediting body making its own accreditation decisions—as a laudable goal.