UGC welcomes full accreditation of CityU's Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine Programme

The University Grants Committee (UGC) today (September 25) welcomed the accreditation of the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (BVM) programme of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) by two major international bodies on veterinary education, namely the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons of the United Kingdom, which affirms that the educational quality of the programme is in line with international standards.

The UGC Chairman, Mr Tim Lui, said, "We would like to congratulate CityU for the remarkable achievement and encourage all graduates to serve the community with their professional knowledge and skills acquired from the programme.

"CityU has certainly lived up to expectations by establishing the first publicly funded school of veterinary medicine in Hong Kong that meets international standards. The UGC is proud to provide our staunch support to the establishment and development of the programme, and witness its success in reaching such a significant milestone after years of tremendous efforts and unfailing dedication," he added.

The Convenor of the UGC's dedicated task force on the BVM programme, Professor Jan Thomas, who is an internationally respected veterinary scientist, said, "Over the years, CityU has made significant progress in academic planning, teaching facilities development, faculty recruitment and academia-industry collaboration for the BVM programme.

"The task force is pleased to see that Hong Kong has demonstrated a strong commitment to investing in veterinary education as well as CityU's impressive capability to deliver a quality programme that will serve both local and regional demand for talent in veterinary medicine," she added.

In 2018, on the recommendation of the UGC, the Government accepted CityU's proposal for establishing a publicly funded six-year BVM programme and provided recurrent funding for the programme from the 2019/20 academic year, with an annual publicly funded intake of 30 local students.

As agreed by the Government in the Planning Exercise for the 2022-25 triennium, the UGC will step up funding support for the BVM programme by around 50 per cent consequent to its success in attaining accreditation status from the two international accreditation bodies. The UGC looks forward to continuing to work closely with CityU for the BVM programme to bring about sustainable benefits to Hong Kong and beyond.