
Strengthening Veterinary Education worldwide is a key to the sustainable improvement of public and private sector components of Veterinary Services (VS). In this era of globalization, all countries depend on the performance of their VS to successfully implement their animal production, aquaculture and food safety policies, and for effective prevention and control of any biological disasters.
The quality of veterinary education varies greatly around the world and the OIE is engaged in global efforts to improve and strengthen it. These efforts respect the establishing of minimum competencies for the effective delivery of quality national veterinary services. It harmonizes, not only key curriculum elements to facilitate the international mobility of veterinarians, but also approaches for the recognition of Veterinary Education Establishments (VEEs) globally.
In order to address the adequate preparation of veterinary graduates, the OIE developed tools to support its Member Countries:
OIE established a VEE Twinning Programme to create the opportunity for a ‘beneficiary’ VEE wishing to improve its performance, to link with a ‘parent’ VEE in a formal partnership to address specific, agreed upon targets for capacity building, with OIE support.
In the Europe region, two twinnings projects have been undertaken between:
The OIE recognises the importance of veterinary paraprofessionals in veterinary service delivery and the PVS Pathway Tool includes assessments related to the staffing and competency of veterinary paraprofessionals as well as veterinarians.