The American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Education (COE) has granted “reasonable assurance,” the first step towards full accreditation, to two new veterinary schools in New York and Arizona. The new additions will bring the total of U.S. veterinary programs to 32.
After six long years of trying to achieve approval, the University of Arizona was finally successful in its bid to open a veterinary school. The public program expects to admit a class of 100 in the fall of 2020. It joins Midwestern University, a private institution, as a second option for veterinary medicine in the state. UA plans to implement a model that will not include a traditional teaching hospital; instead, students will receive training through partnerships with a variety of off-site practices and hospitals. Also of note is the fact that students will complete the program in just 3 years, since there will be no summer breaks.
Long Island University’s veterinary program went through the process much more swiftly, and received a site visit from the COE just three months after applying for consideration in 2018 (with the usual wait being close to a year). The approval stalled after the visit, however, preventing LIU from admitting a class for fall of 2019 as originally planned. In recent weeks the program received approval and now is on track to admit a class of 100 in the fall of 2020. The LIU veterinary school will join Cornell, Tufts University, and the University of Pennsylvania as the only veterinary programs in the Northeast. Much like the program at University of Arizona, LIU does not plan to build a teaching hospital, but will instead rely on a network of 27 affiliate practices for clinical training in animal hospitals, zoos, and rescue organizations.
A proposed program at Texas Tech is still seeking the first approval from the COE, and could be on track to become the nation’s 33rd veterinary program.
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