Students lament possible closure of Cambridge veterinary courses

Students and staff are calling on the University of Cambridge to continue delivering veterinary courses after an internal review concluded there was no long-term solution for their survival. 

Council members at the university’s School of the Biological Sciences recommended Cambridge cease offering veterinary education after the final cohort of students graduates in 2032, having concluded there were no viable options for the “sustainable delivery” of clinical services.

“All options were explored in-depth and weighed up carefully against the school’s strategic vision and plan, their implications for teaching and research, financial impact, and achievable implementation, either within the university or through external partnerships,” the university said in a statement. 

The recommendation will now be considered by the university’s general board and other university decision-making bodies. Times Higher Education understands that if the proposed measure does go ahead, the school will remain open and research would continue, but veterinary education would cease. 

In a statement, staff and students from the department said the news was “a bolt from the blue” and asked that university leaders “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,” they said, noting the shortage of vets in the UK. 

They said the council “was unable to provide clear and compelling justification” for the recommendation.

“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.” 

An inspection by the RCVS last year found the school had met only 27 of its 77 accreditation standards, and the university was told that it risked losing its accreditation if standards did not improve.

Earlier this year, the RCVS extended conditional accreditation of the degree following changes made by the school.

The students and staff said they believed the university was “acting precipitately based on inaccurate information about our finances”. 

“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.”

A spokesperson for the University of Cambridge said: “We understand that this is a difficult time for colleagues and students in the Veterinary School and are putting in place support structures for both staff and students who may be affected.”

The British Veterinary Association said the news was “deeply worrying” and that it was “committed to making the case for the university to continue the course”.

“A resilient veterinary workforce relies on a healthy pipeline of homegrown talent and the UK’s vet schools, including Cambridge, play a crucial role.”

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com