Page 12 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 2

OND
ERSTEPOORT 100
Amalgamation and achievement
(1999-2008)
72
During the period 1999-2005, veterinary training went through considerable turmoil. Following a protracted period of negotiation to amalgamate the two faculties – the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Pretoria, and the Faculty of Veterinary Science of Medunsa – N.P.J. Kriek was appointed as the Dean of the New Amalgamated Faculty of Veterinary Science and commenced his term on 1 March 1999. H.M. Terblanche from Medunsa became Deputy Dean.
The new Faculty that came into being at the beginning of July 1999 was positioned as a national asset that had to attend to the needs of the broad South African Community given the lack of access to tertiary education and veterinary services that prevailed in many segments of the population before 1994. The amalgama- tion was also driven by a need to reduce what was perceived by the authorities to be an excessive financial investment into veterinary training in South Africa.
The drive to reduce the total cost of veterinary training, to source additional funding for the Faculty, and to provide access to students from the disadvantaged groups of the population determined the milieu for this term. Amalgamation proved to be a major transition and it took the
best part of 5 years to finalize the matter; the issues pertaining to human resources proving to have the greatest impact and taking the most time to manage. In the end, amalgamation was implemented without having to lay-off staff, the number of which initially markedly exceeded that for which funding was available, and without losing a day of academic time following fusion of the two student bodies.
To accommodate the different struc- tures of the curricula of the two faculties, namely Onderstepoort and Medunsa, the two current curricula that were not com- patible due to structure and time-frames, were maintained and phased out over time while a new agreed-upon curriculum was implemented concurrently. This new curriculum attempted to address the im- balance in emphasis between companion animals and production animals.
The curriculum was further structured on a mixed discipline and species basis, but ultimately it did not satisfactorily address the imbalance. Largely driven by financial constraints, and in an attempt to access sufficient funds from the Department of Education, the curriculum was repackaged into a 3+4 configuration, the first three years being a three-year BSc Veterinary Biology course offered by the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences of the
Clinical training of nursing students
Students’ practical in pathology
PART 2
Faculty of Veterinary Science: General History
1908-2008
Years