The University of Cambridge could close its veterinary school by 2032 under recommendations put forward by its School of the Biological Sciences.
Staff, current and prospective students were told about the proposal on Wednesday, which would see the last cohort of undergraduates join next October. A final decision will be made by the university's general board in January.
A spokesperson for the university said: "The recommendation comes after the university's general board asked the school council to consider various options for the sustainable delivery of clinical services."
In response, staff and students from Department of Veterinary Medicine have released the following statement:
“The decision to recommend the closure of what the Times Higher Education Supplement ranks as the best undergraduate veterinary
course in the world has come as a bolt from the blue.
Staff, students and supporters of the Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital and Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge University are calling on the University authorities to pause and reconsider a hasty, unjustified and flawed process.
As well as lacking transparency and proper consultation about such a serious and irreversible move, closing the veterinary medicine course also has much wider implications which are not being taken into account.
If and when the UK and the world face another pandemic, as so many scientists believe we will, those with world class knowledge of animal to human disease transmission – both vets and researchers – will be of vital importance.
We know already that there is a shortage of vets in the UK. The majority of students who qualify as vets at Cambridge University are from the UK and go on to work here as practising vets or scientific experts.
When questioned by us yesterday, the University body which made the recommendation was unable to provide clear and compelling
justification for it. They would not or could not explain if this rush to judgment is based on concerns about the financial sustainability of the School, about the quality of teaching or about criticisms of the veterinary department raised by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) in 2024*.The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has stated that "this is deeply worrying news" and has committed to making the case for the University to continue the course, highlighting the crucial role that Cambridge plays in creating a resilient veterinary workforce.
We believe the University is acting precipitately based on inaccurate information about our finances. They can have no doubt about the world-class ranking of our course.
As to the criticisms in 2024, which we took extremely seriously, we have made huge improvements and worked in conjunction with the RCVS to develop an action plan for us to continue on our trajectory to achieve full accreditation by October 2026, as the RCVS itself said in a statement yesterday (December 11th).
We were not expecting – and were not even given an opportunity to consider how we would react to - a recommendation of closure. We would and will oppose it with all the means at our disposal, in the interests of our students, of veterinary science and of the animals treated by our outstanding experts.
Unless the University pauses this flawed process, a great and irreparable injustice will be done to hundreds of staff and students, present and future, as well as to the reputation of Cambridge as a world leader in sciences of every type.
At a time when the world is under continual threat of animal-sourced pandemics, to undermine the education of the next generations of world-class vets and researchers is surely a risk that is not worth taking, particularly if the decision is about money.”