Page 14 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 2

OND
ERSTEPOORT 100
Veterinary Medicine of the University of Utrecht, the College of Veterinary Medicine in Davis, California, and the Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. Close collaboration was also established with the regional Anglophone facul- ties in southern and eastern Africa. The
Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases excelled in this respect and positioned itself globally, capitalizing on the new opportunities provided by globalization and the development of international teams. In October 2006 Kriek was succeeded as Dean by G.E. Swan.
The closing years of the centenary period were characterized by progress to- wards the goals set by the Faculty in its Faculty Plan, including:
significant growth in the basic requirements for a successful research programme. During the same period the total number of Masters and PhD student enrolments increased by more than 20% and research output as measured by audited Depart-
ment of Education publication output by more than 30%. It is also gratifying that between 40 and 60% of the postgraduate students came from previously disadvan- taged groups. In order to focus its research efforts and to concentrate on problems unique to Africa the Faculty identified six research themes:
• Molecular studies on infectious and parasitic diseases of animals;
• Phyto-medicine and ethno-veterinary medicine;
• Wildlife and environmental health;
• Veterinary aspects of food safety and
food security;
• Equine and companion animal health
and welfare; and
• Anatomical and physiological studies
on animals.
The first two of these were accepted by the NRF for
long-term financial support, which bodes well for the future. Significant achievements have, however, also been attained in other areas and scientific disciplines. Those who share a common history with the ARC-OVI are discussed in Part 3 whereas brief summaries of developments in faculty-specific
departments are given below.
In May 2006 the Faculty received its
first full visitation by the South African Veterinary Council under the Chairmanship of P. Ardington. The visitation was preceded by completion and submission of a Self Evaluation Report according to the guide- lines as determined by the Council and standardized with those of the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) and followed by a visit to the Faculty by the review team. The outcome of the review of the veterinary undergraduate and veterinary nurse train- ing programmes was positive. Several re- commendations including education inno- vation, exposure to veterinary research in undergraduate training and the need for elective modules were made.
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allocation of additional annual funding
by the Department of Education from
2006 onwards towards the cost of
the Veterinary Academic Hospital,
Faculty Services Laboratories and the
Onderstepoort Training Animal Unit,
relieving to a large extent the pressures
of the sustainability of the cost of veterinary training for the University of Pretoria;
the review of the current two degree structure of veterinary training and the re-instatement of a single degree training programme, revised to take account of the latest trends in veterinary training;
restructuring of the two-year veterinary nursing diploma to a 3-year degree and the development of a veterinary nursing academic programme;
measures taken to increase its research output, inter alia by establishing a re- search ethos, by increasing the num- bers of postgraduate students and by encouraging the teaching staff to sub- mit themselves to National Research Foundation (NRF) rating.
“A strategy was designed by which the research output of the Faculty would be more focused and increased, and the qualification profile of the academic staff improved. This process was linked to strengthening the quality criteria applicable to promotions of the academic members of staff.”
To
lation and advancement D.W. Verwoerd, former Director of the ARC-OVI, was appointed as Research Coordinator. The number of postgraduate bursaries allo- cated had increased from two in 2004 to more than 30 in 2007 and the number of NRF-rated staff from 7 to 16, indicating
drive the process of research stimu-
PART 2
Faculty of Veterinary Science: General History
1908-2008
Years