Royal Veterinary College
Encyclopedia
The Royal Veterinary College (informally the RVC) is a veterinary school
located in London
, United Kingdom
and a constituent college
of the federal University of London
. The RVC was founded in 1791 and joined the University of London in 1949. It is the oldest and largest veterinary school in the United Kingdom.
The RVC is one of the United Hospitals
.
There is a distance learning department and the Graduate School provides masters courses, PhD studentships and clinical training scholarships in a wide range of disciplines. The College's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Unit is a major academic provider of educational services to the veterinary community.
The RVC has an active program e-Media Unit which collaborates with other UK veterinary schools on the development of the WikiVet
site.
The disciplines of Epidemiology, Microbiology, Pathology, Immunology and Clinical Science are drawn together in the Centre for Emerging, Endemic and Exotic Diseases (CEEED Centre), opened in 2008.
Animal Welfare is fundamental to the RVC's research mission and underpins their research programmes; the establishment of an Animal Welfare Unit at the College is an important development. Understanding how animals and people move is fundamental to musuloskeletal health and diseases that result from ageing, physical activity and the environment. The Structure and Motion Laboratory has world leading facilities to study locomotion. The leaders of this Centre of Excellence are at the forefront of developing technologies to study animal movement which are used in both basic and applied research.
The RVC is unique among European Vet Schools in having a Clinical Investigation Centre, co-ordinating disciplined study of its clinical caseload through its electronic patient record system and undertaking Phase II Clinical Trials under a Home Office license. They aim to translate research into solutions for veterinary and human medicine and use their expertise and veterinary patient caseload to undertake comparative research of both biomedical and veterinary significance.
; a high quality animal referral hospital, providing state of the art clinical services in a wide range of specialities. The equine services include the Equine Practice which is a first opinion ambulatory service, serving Hertfordshire and other local areas and the Equine Referral Hospital which provides referral clinical services to equine practices and horse owners throughout the south of England. The College also has a first opinion Farm Animal Practice serving farms in the south-east, providing a 24-hour service on all aspects of farm animal health, production and welfare and also a referral Farm Animal Hospital based at the RVC Hawkshead Campus, providing full hospitalisation, diagnostic and surgical facilities for individual farm animals. The College has also established a collaboration with the Dairy Development centre called the Welsh Regional Veterinary Centre (WRVC), a farm health investigation service to vets and farmers in the south Wales region.
Veterinary school
A veterinary school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, which is involved in the education of veterinarians. To become a veterinarian one must first complete a veterinary degree A veterinary school should not be confused with a department of animal science...
located in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and a constituent college
Collegiate university
A collegiate university is a university in which governing authority and functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges...
of the federal University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. The RVC was founded in 1791 and joined the University of London in 1949. It is the oldest and largest veterinary school in the United Kingdom.
The RVC is one of the United Hospitals
United Hospitals
United Hospitals is the historical collective name of the medical schools of London. They are all part of the University of London with the exception of Imperial College School of Medicine which left in 2007. The original United Hospitals referred to Guy's Hospital and St Thomas's Hospital and...
.
History
The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) is the longest-established vet school in the English speaking world.Education
The College provides a number of undergraduate courses, including the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (BVetMed) as well as accelerated graduate entry BVetMed and a combined BVetMed, BSC degree. BSc degrees are also provided in veterinary nursing, bioveterinary sciences and veterinary pathology, and a foundation degree in veterinary nursing is also offered. The College also offers the Gateway course; the first year of an extended six-year veterinary degree programme; created for students who are part of the UK Widening Participation cohort, designed to equip students with the knowledge, understanding and skills you need to join a career-building veterinary degree course. This is a widening participation programme for UK non-selective state school students whose parents have not been to university and who receive, or would be eligible for, an Education Maintenance Allowance payment.There is a distance learning department and the Graduate School provides masters courses, PhD studentships and clinical training scholarships in a wide range of disciplines. The College's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Unit is a major academic provider of educational services to the veterinary community.
The RVC has an active program e-Media Unit which collaborates with other UK veterinary schools on the development of the WikiVet
WikiVet
WikiVet is a wiki of veterinary content, run using the MediaWiki software. The project is a collaborative initiative involving UK veterinary schools with external support...
site.
Research
Research at the Royal Veterinary College is of international quality. The Research Assessment Exercise in 2008 ranked the RVC as England's best veterinary school, amongst institutions whose research is exclusively veterinary related. 55% of their submitted academic staff were viewed as producing "world class" or "internationally excellent" research. It is a self-governing college within the University of London and its scientists work together in interdisciplinary teams within one research division.The disciplines of Epidemiology, Microbiology, Pathology, Immunology and Clinical Science are drawn together in the Centre for Emerging, Endemic and Exotic Diseases (CEEED Centre), opened in 2008.
Animal Welfare is fundamental to the RVC's research mission and underpins their research programmes; the establishment of an Animal Welfare Unit at the College is an important development. Understanding how animals and people move is fundamental to musuloskeletal health and diseases that result from ageing, physical activity and the environment. The Structure and Motion Laboratory has world leading facilities to study locomotion. The leaders of this Centre of Excellence are at the forefront of developing technologies to study animal movement which are used in both basic and applied research.
The RVC is unique among European Vet Schools in having a Clinical Investigation Centre, co-ordinating disciplined study of its clinical caseload through its electronic patient record system and undertaking Phase II Clinical Trials under a Home Office license. They aim to translate research into solutions for veterinary and human medicine and use their expertise and veterinary patient caseload to undertake comparative research of both biomedical and veterinary significance.
Clinical services
The small and large animal hospitals treat over 20,000 patients per year. The RVC runs three animal hospitals and three first opinion practices all based within London and Hertfordshire. For small animals, they run the Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital, a first opinion hospital that is based in RVC Camden and the Queen Mother Hospital for AnimalsQueen Mother Hospital for Animals
In 2008 the Royal Veterinary College completed the third phase of development of the Queen Mother Hospital for Animals. This development supports the continued expansion of both secondary and tertiary medical and surgical services for small animals, built around support services such as Emergency...
; a high quality animal referral hospital, providing state of the art clinical services in a wide range of specialities. The equine services include the Equine Practice which is a first opinion ambulatory service, serving Hertfordshire and other local areas and the Equine Referral Hospital which provides referral clinical services to equine practices and horse owners throughout the south of England. The College also has a first opinion Farm Animal Practice serving farms in the south-east, providing a 24-hour service on all aspects of farm animal health, production and welfare and also a referral Farm Animal Hospital based at the RVC Hawkshead Campus, providing full hospitalisation, diagnostic and surgical facilities for individual farm animals. The College has also established a collaboration with the Dairy Development centre called the Welsh Regional Veterinary Centre (WRVC), a farm health investigation service to vets and farmers in the south Wales region.