N.Z. Veterinary School’s Aims Outlined By Dean

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30143, 29 May 1963, Page 6

N.Z. Veterinary School’s Aims Outlined By Dean

Instead of aiming at one veterinary surgeon to 5000 livestock units the aim in New Zealand should be one to 10,000 units. This indicated a need for 1000 veterinary surgeons in New Zealand, said Dr. 1. J. Cunningham, Dean of the New Zealand Veterinary School, in an address to the annual conference yesterday of the Veterinary Services Council

The first part erf the task he saw before them was to lift the veterinary manpower from the present 368 to the new number of 1600. It was proposed to start in 1064 with an annual intake of 32 undergraduate students and to raise the number to 48 as soon as facilities in the way of staff, buildings and equipment were suitably developed This would probably be in I»J6. Thirty-two students startling in the second year would yield at out 28 graduates a year and 48 students would supply about 44 graduates. ‘■Counting present graduates, students in the pipeline in Australia, the graduates zho will come from Massey University College, and a steady 1 s of 3j per cent, per annum through departure, deaths, retirements, and so on. I learn from statistical friends that unless there is appreciable immigration of qualified men. veterinary manpower in New Zealand will be about 400 in 1968. just before Massey University College starts producing, will reach 800 in 1986 and reach 1000 in the ’year 2003. lit will thus be 40 years before we reach our first objective,’’ said Dr. Cunningham. When the faculty attained its planned size it was expected the total student roll would be about 210. That would include about 28 postgraduate students taking the diplomas and following research studies, he said, and gave details for the various departments in the Veterinary School. There would be four professors and a total academic staff of 38 in the departments of veterinary biology, animal health, and clinical sciences. “We might look at the school in a wider context,"

said Dr Cunningham. "There is a world population of about 160,000 veterinary surgeons and an annual production of about 10.000 new graduates from 217 schools. This is approximately 46 graduates a school and an annual addition of about 6 per cent of new graduates. In the United Kingdom the annual output of •new graduates is about 246 from seven schools or about 35 new graduates a school and an annual addition of about 4 per cent, of new graduates Our proposal for numbers of

undergraduate students is simitar to that in other countries.

“We have the advantage that all the departments of the school are on the same

Kite so that the contribution of the earlier years of teachfog, the advantage of contact with students of other faculties, and the environment of the university will influence students right through until graduation. . . . We also have the opportunity to embark m a new approach to teaching unhindered by establtahed teaching departments with possibly conservative outlooks.

“We will be able to prune old material and concentrate on principles without being submerged by too much detail By suitable integration of teaching and subject matter of various disciplines we will be able to remove artificial barriers between disciplines. improve the over-ell understanding of the student and help him to apply all his learning to the solution of his professional problems. “We will need assistance and support in developing the research side. This la essential both as a stimulus to staff and students and tn order to enable the school to make the contribution we all expect from it towards the solution of problems facing the primary industry of this country,” he said.