Employing overseas Veterinary Graduates

Under European law, veterinary graduates from EU veterinary schools who are EU nationals (and with community rights entitlement, including Switzerland) may register with the RCVS to work as Veterinary Surgeons in the UK under the Registration of EU Graduates Directive 2005/36/EC. 

BEVA believes employers should be aware of the potential differences in veterinary graduates from other member states and should consider these when employing veterinary surgeons. These factors include language skills, clinical experience through clinical extra mural studies and independent accreditation of the veterinary training through the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education.

BEVA also believes that employers have a duty to ensure that all employees have the required level of linguistic and clinical skills to enable them to undertake their role effectively and to assure the delivery of safe care to animals and the public. While employers should not discriminate based on nationality, language or place of graduation, they can consider all forms of evidence when making decisions about whether or not an applicant has appropriate skills for the role.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

The RCVS DO NOT currently set English language requirements for those with a recognised qualification from nationals of an EU member state as described above, however they have established minimum requirements based on the IELTS English language qualification for non-EU graduates. 

Article 53 of Directive 2005/36/EC states that migrants should ‘have a knowledge of languages necessary for practising the profession in the host member state’. BEVA believe that the standard set by both the GMC for doctors and the RCVS for non-EU nationals is an appropriate standard for most veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses working in the UK.

While we recommend an explicit statement in a job specification (example below), employers should consider equivalent experience or qualifications so that they comply with EU employment law. This may include: completion of higher education in the UK or in a recognized institution abroad that is taught in English, other language test results (other than IELTS), work in an English speaking country or in an organization in which communication was in English. The NHS has a useful guide on the subject that can be accessed here (click to access). To facilitate comparison of other English Language requirements a description is included at the end of this document

Example role specification description: Applicants who’s first language is not English should have evidence of fluency in the English language that can be equivalent to an IELTS score of 7.0 in each category (reading, writing, listening, speaking) with a total score of at least 7.5

Note: This example statement is based on current GMC requirements. The RCVS have recently increased their standard for non-EU nationals to 7.0 in each category but without a total test score.

CLINICAL EXTRA MURAL STUDIES (CEMS)

The UK veterinary profession is proud of the provision of CEMS and in membership surveys have reaffirmed its strong support that this should continue in its current form. As such, BEVA believes that employers should be aware that the requirement to undertake 26 weeks of CEMS is unique to UK and Ireland. When employing recent graduates from veterinary school from other countries employers can require evidence of 26 weeks of clinical training outside their curriculum with a specific requirement in the job specification; an example is shown below.

Example role specification description: Applicants who do not have at least 12 months of relevant experience in clinical practice who have not graduated from the UK or the Republic of Ireland must provide evidence that they have undertaken at least 26 weeks of clinical training in clinical practice outside of their University. 

EXTERNAL ACCREDITATION

Although each veterinary school in Europe will have national accreditation, this does not allow comparison between veterinary education. The European Association of Establishments of Veterinary Education EAEVE undertakes such standardization. A number of veterinary schools within Europe have either failed to achieve this standard, or have failed to undergo accreditation and therefore no external validation of the quality of the teaching can be established. While members should not assume that such graduates are inherently inferior they may want to undertake further checks when comparing graduates from these institutions to those from EAEVE approved/accredited schools.

The European Board of Veterinary Specialisation requires that candidates for European residencies must have ‘a veterinary degree from an EAEVE-approved veterinary school, unless exempted from this obligation by the Credentials Committee’. Members employing residents or running internship programs where progression to residency is considered a marker of the programs success should be aware of this limitation.