The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

The college was reconstituted as an integral part of the University of Edinburgh in 1951 and became a full faculty in 1964. Since 1990 it has been honoured by having Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal, as its patron.

The modern course extends over five years and students are expected to have completed their studies in the basic sciences of chemistry, physics and biology beforehand. The Faculty has no difficulty in filling its 65 places for government funded EU/UK students from among the many able and motivated applicants. It adds to these up to 30 foreign or second degree students who pay full economic fees. These, together with around 30-50 MSc students and 120 research students are taught by some 70 academic staff.

A very important part of the course is the Extra Mural Instruction. For this, the students must spend at least 12 weeks gaining appropriate experience in livestock husbandry and twenty-six weeks receiving clinical instruction in suitable veterinary practices or other appropriate external veterinary establishments. This used to be called "seeing practice" and is provided as a service by our colleagues in private practice. It plays a vital role in ensuring that our students gain sufficient "hands on" experience to allow them to move straight from the university into practical veterinary work.

Since 1962, the Faculty has operated on two sites, at Summerhall and at the Easter Bush Veterinary Centre, near Roslin, six miles south of Edinburgh. This split was rendered necessary because of the growing difficulty of obtaining large animal clinical material at Summerhall. Two site operation means that each of the undergraduate years can be exposed to work with farm animals and horses in an appropriate rural setting. Sited within the University's developing Technopole, the Easter Bush Veterinary Centre forms part of one of the most comprehensive aggregations of rural and agricultural research institutes in the world.

Following a major re-organisation in 1986, the Faculty comprises four Departments. Undergraduate teaching, for the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery and for the Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, is undertaken almost entirely within the Departments of Preclinical Veterinary Sciences, Veterinary Pathology and Veterinary Clinical Studies. The teaching given by the Department of Tropical Animal Health, on the other hand, is mainly concerned with postgraduate MSc/Diploma courses.

Being at the forefront of veterinary education, the Faculty is the lead site for the development of CLIVE (Computer-aided Learning in Veterinary Education). This is a consortium of all the UK veterinary schools that are developing the software that will enable them to offer all their students the most modern methods of veterinary education.

The Faculty has recently been awarded funding from the Wellcome Trust to establish a Centre of Research Excellence in Applied Respiratory Pathophysiology at the Field Station. The requirements for this competitive award specified that it must provide for a strong emphasis on the integration of clinical and molecular investigative techniques. A complete laboratory wing is to be refurbished and will have new accommodation provided for large animals together with facilities for patho-physiological investigations on clinical cases. The Centre will also include a transgenic unit which is to be sited within that being built for the Moredun Foundation, a research institute concerned primarily with animal disease, at Pentlands Science Park, about half a mile from the Field Station. 

The Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies

The Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies builds on the knowledge gained in the earlier years and imparts the clinical skills necessary for the practice of veterinary medicine and surgery. Unique amongst veterinary schools in the UK, the Department has long-established veterinary practices, both for large and small animals.

Clinicians in the small animal practice see around 5,000 first opinion cases each year, while their colleagues in the large animal practice make some 2,000-3,000 visits per year.

Our veterinary hospitals also offer referral services to the Profession for complex and difficult cases, and owners bring their animals from all over the UK for diagnosis by specialists, and treatment. In a typical year, our Large Animal Hospital will see around 1,500 outpatients, admitting around half of the animals to the Hospital. In the same period, around 3,000 patients are referred to the Small Animal Hospital, of which up to 2,500 will be admitted for diagnosis and treatment.

The School is also very active in providing courses for Continuing Professional Development, attracting hundreds of veterinary practitioners to its courses throughout the year. Veterinary care for the many rare and exotic species housed in Edinburgh Zoo is provided by members of the Department.

Over the years, the staff of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies have made major contributions to the development of new methods of diagnosis and therapy of equine diseases, and include internationally recognised authorities on equine respiratory diseases, lameness and reproductive disorders. Recently, extensive research programmes have been directed towards gaining a better understanding of equine nutrition. Some of these are being undertaken jointly with the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER), Aberystwyth and the Welsh Institute of Rural Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Links with other organizations include collaborative small-animal research with the University of Bristol. The Department is also involved in a joint ERASMUS teaching programme with the University of Wageningen, The Netherlands, and the University of Zaragoza, Spain.

With the support of the Home of Rest for Horses, the School has developed modern operating facilities with associated recovery units and an intensive care facility for both adults and neonates. Within the next five years, however, the need for new hospital accommodation will become acute. The School's plans to develop a two-block equine hospital facility, each block of which will have room for two rows of eight loose-boxes with support facilities, will enable us to take optimum care of the many horses entrusted to us for expert attention and treatment.

Veterinary services for small animals are provided at two sites, namely at The Small Animal Clinic, Summerhall Square, Edinburgh and at The Hospital for Small Animals, Easter Bush Veterinary Centre, near Roslin, in Midlothian, which is 10km south of the City Centre. Our computerised record system means that clients are welcome to attend either clinic and vary their attendance from one to the other. 

Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (CTVM)

Mission Statement

Promotion of animal health, welfare and production through research and raining, to foster sustainable development, alleviate poverty and improve the quality of human life"

The Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (CTVM) was established in 1970 as an integral Department of Tropical Animal Health in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Edinburgh.  It has continued and expanded a tradition of research and training in tropical veterinary medicine which began with the establishment of the Post-Graduate Diploma in Tropical Veterinary Medicine at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, Edinburgh, in the early 1930s.  In 1995 CTVM celebrated its 25th anniversary and reaffirmed its commitment to development with an expanding number of research programmes, new modular MSc courses and the introduction of short "in-country" courses designed to meet the changing demands of developing countries, with emphasis on active partnerships, rather than aid.