Veterinary Medicine

Course outline

At Cambridge, you study the basic veterinary sciences first before learning to apply that knowledge to veterinary practice as a clinical student.

During your pre-clinical studies (Years 1-3), you are taught through lectures and practical classes (including 120 hours of dissection across the three years) in the central science departments, and College supervisions – you can typically expect 20-25 timetabled teaching hours each week. The clinical studies teaching is a mixture of lectures (in Years 4 and 5), practicals, group work in directed learning sessions, seminars, discussions and tutorials and a substantial element of practical clinical classes, together with a lecture-free final year.

In addition, The RCVS requires you to complete a minimum of 12 weeks’ work experience (pre-clinical extramural study, ‘EMS’) to gain knowledge of animal husbandry and you should aim to complete this during the University vacations in Years 1 and 2. During your clinical studies, the RCVS requirements are that you must complete at least 26 weeks of clinical EMS, some of which may be undertaken abroad. You are supported in the activities by your Vet School Clinical Supervisor and the Department of Veterinary Medicine will provide some financial support towards your clinical EMS.

Your progress is continually reviewed by your supervisors and your Director of Studies. Formal assessment, which determines your progression through the course, takes a variety of forms including written essays, short answer questions and practical examinations.

Years 1, 2 and 3 (pre-clinical studies)

Years 1 and 2

Years 1 and 2 are the ‘scientific foundations’ phase of the veterinary programme in which you are taught the core scientific knowledge and skills needed as a veterinary professional.

Taught by some of the world’s top academic scientists and veterinary surgeons, we provide you with the scientific and practical basis that will allow you to develop your veterinary career to the full, whether your aim is to deliver outstanding care or to push forward the boundaries of academic veterinary medicine.

In addition to core science, you follow the Preparing for the Veterinary Profession course (an introduction to the ethical, social and professional responsibilities of the profession) and courses in animal handling and management.

The main areas of learning are covered by courses in:

• Principles of Animal Management – an intensive course in animal husbandry and management, including comprehensive animal handling training across a wide range of species
• Preparing for the Veterinary Profession – introducing you to the professional, ethical, financial, legal and social dimensions of your chosen career
• Homeostasis – covering the physiological systems which underpin the animal body's regulation of its internal environment and its responses to external threats. You also have practical classes in related aspects of experimental physiology and histology
• Molecules in Medical Science – looking at the chemical and molecular basis of how cells and organisms work, as well as the genetic foundations of animal populations
• Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology – functional anatomy of organs and tissues of domestic animals, and the direct relevance of animal structure in clinical veterinary medicine. The course involves extensive dissection of eight species, integrated teaching of diagnostic imaging as well as topographic anatomy sessions in live animals
• Foundations of Evidence-Based Practice – covering epidemiology and how it’s applied in veterinary medicine
• Biology of Disease – dealing with the nature and mechanisms of disease processes, and the mechanisms by which animals detect, resist and destroy agents of disease
• Mechanisms of Drug Action – providing a clinically-focused understanding of how drugs enter animals’ bodies, how they’re distributed around them, how they act on cells and organs, and how they’re removed
• Neurobiology and Animal Behaviour – covering the structure and function of the sense organs and central nervous system, and introductions to neurological examinations of live animals
• Veterinary Reproductive Biology – looking at the physiology of fertility, pregnancy, development, birth and the neonate in domestic animals
• Comparative Vertebrate Biology – an introduction to the biology of fish, reptiles, birds, rodents and ‘exotic’ mammals, including practical classes in the handling and husbandry of these species

Read more about Years 1 and 2 on the Faculty of Biology website.

Year 3

In this ‘science’ phase of the veterinary programme, you specialise in one of a wide range of other subjects offered by the University to qualify for the BA degree. Options include:

• a single Part II Natural Sciences subject
• Part II Biological and Biomedical Sciences in Natural Sciences (offering a range of subjects such as Pathology, Physiology, Zoology, History and Ethics of Medicine)
• a subject less obviously related to veterinary medicine, such as Anthropology or Management Studies

This feature of the course gives you the opportunity to specialise in an area of interest to you, expanding your knowledge and preparing you for a career after graduation. Following this, you then continue to the three years of clinical studies at the Department of Veterinary Medicine, which is just a short walk or bike ride from the city centre.

Years 4, 5 and 6 (clinical studies)

Years 4 and 5

The emphasis of the clinical studies is to give you sufficient clinical knowledge and skills to begin to practise veterinary medicine (including the RCVS Day One Competencies) and also to provide you with the scientific awareness you need to understand future advances in veterinary medicine, pursue careers in other aspects of the profession and take advantage of the opportunities that your science-based, veterinary clinical degree will give..

Years 4 and 5 represent the ‘clinical phase’ of the veterinary curriculum. The curriculum has been redesigned to be delivered in species-based courses with some aspects delivered as discipline-related subjects, and includes the following topics:

• Principles of clinical practice – surgery, anaesthesia, radiography and radiology, clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, oncology, clinical pathology, integrated animal management
• Principles of infectious diseases
• Farm Animal Studies: four modules – Cattle, Small Ruminants, Pigs, Poultry – each covering medicine, surgery, reproduction/infertility/obstetrics and management in an integrated fashion;
• Equine Studies
• Small Animal Studies, which includes a range of companion animal species (including dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents, reptiles and birds)
• Veterinary Public Health

In addition, the ‘clinical phase’ includes a substantial amount of training and practising in practical clinical skills and other elements that are an important part of veterinary practice, such as communication skills, practice management and professional behaviours.

Within the clinical phase, two mornings each week are given over to practical clinical work including basic clinical examination of the main domestic species, radiography, post-mortem investigation and visits to external establishments such as the University-affiliated RSPCA clinic where you actively participate in delivering morning clinic consultations. You also develop a range of technical and practice-related skills in the Clinical Skills Hub. Self-study time gives opportunities to further hone your consultation and practical skills in the Clinical Skills Hub.

The clinical phase of the Cambridge veterinary programme is assessed through a series of ten modular exams held across the first five terms of the clinical phase, an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) circuit covering a range of hands-on practical skills and an online assessment of students’ understanding of the RCVS Guide to Professional Conduct. Together, these twelve elements comprise the Final Veterinary Examination Part I, which aims to test your understanding of principles and concepts of veterinary medicine, ability to apply such knowledge to clinical scenarios, and your ability to integrate information across the Part I series of subjects.

Year 6

This is the ‘professional phase’ of the veterinary programme. It is a 40-week lecture-free year with tuition centred on clinical teaching, in which groups of just three or four students rotate through different disciplines in the hospital with individual clinicians. The small size of these groups means each student’s caseload is higher and they are given the maximum possible responsibility for the management of clinical cases. This allows you to develop your clinical and problem-solving skills and client communication skills in a real clinical practice environment.

The rotations covered during the year are:

• Small Animal Surgery (soft tissue and orthopaedic surgery)
• Small Animal Medicine (including oncology, neurology, clinical pathology and first-opinion practice rotations)
• Equine Studies (including our first-opinion practice)
• Farm Animal Studies (first opinion practice, herd health and veterinary aspects of public health)
• Anaesthesia
• Out-of-hours Care
• Diagnostic Imaging

While there are no formal marks awarded for these clinical rotations, you will need to demonstrate satisfactory performance on all of them, such as via completing a number of ‘Demonstration of Procedural Skills’ (DOPS) exercises over the course of the year, to be eligible to sit the Final Veterinary Examination Part II at the end of 6th year. There are four subject areas in that exam: Equine Studies, Farm Animal Studies, Small Animal Studies and Veterinary Public Health.

Finally, you have a period of eight weeks’ self-selected study composed of a clinically-based VetMB Research Project, in which you explore an area of special interest, and ‘tracking’ period with more advanced consideration of an area of your interest. This research project forms part of an e-portfolio of activities that you will have conducted through the three years of the clinical curriculum, including your Extra-Mural Studies.

Achievement of the VetMB degree allows you to become a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS), which is the professional qualification required to enter practice in the UK.

For further information about studying Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge see the Department of Veterinary Medicine website.