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Beyond the clinic: A call to Ireland’s veterinary profession
Ireland’s veterinary profession stands at a critical inflection point. Demand for veterinary services continues to rise across companion animal, farm, and equine sectors, while rural practices face sustained pressure from workforce shortages, recruitment, and retention challenges, and the increasing complexity of professional expectations. At the same time, society looks to vets to lead not only in clinical care, but also in animal welfare, food safety, antimicrobial stewardship, sustainability, and emergency preparedness. These pressures are not temporary; they reflect structural shifts in how veterinary medicine is practised and valued.
Against this backdrop, ATU, has taken a significant step forward. In December 2025, ATU Veterinary received Reasonable Assurance of Accreditation from the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI). This confirms that our proposed Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery (BVMS) programme, curriculum, facilities, and Governance are likely to meet the standards required to allow our graduates register with the Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI) provided we deliver on our plan. This milestone allows us to proceed with confidence towards welcoming our first cohort of students in September 2026.
In achieving this, ATU has established a new Department of Veterinary Medicine, which will be supported by referral hospitals in Letterkenny and a dedicated farm and herd health hub in Mountbellew. Our ambition is both simple and far-reaching: to educate resilient, practice-ready graduates who can serve Ireland’s communities, strengthen rural veterinary provision and lead confidently within a One Health framework. This article sets out our vision and, crucially, extends an invitation to the profession, to practices, industry partners and public stakeholders, to help us build it.
Designed for Ireland’s real needs
The ATU veterinary curriculum has been deliberately designed around the realities of contemporary Irish practice. It is grounded in three interlinked principles: community, capability, and connection.
- Community is reflected in sustained partnerships with primary-care practices, farms and service providers across the north and northwest, embedding students in the places where veterinary need is most acute.
- Capability is developed through a systematic, outcomes-focused approach to ‘day one competences’ and entrustable professional activities (EPAs), supported by high-fidelity clinical skills training.
- Connection is achieved through an explicitly integrated One Health perspective, linking animal health with public health, environmental stewardship and societal responsibility.
Early, continuous clinical immersion
Clinical immersion begins early and continues throughout the programme.
- From year one, students rotate through skills laboratories and supervised exposure to practice environments.
- This is not an add-on approach to extramural studies, but a planned, assessed, and curriculum-embedded model of clinical experience.
- By revisiting clinical settings with increasing responsibility and complexity, students build confidence, competence and professional identity, reducing the transition shock that so often characterises the move from graduate to practitioner.
Simulation as a force multiplier
Simulation plays a central role in this approach.
- A modern simulation and clinical skills centre will support OSCE-aligned rehearsal of core procedures, including venepuncture, anaesthetic set-up, introductory ultrasonography and dentistry positioning, alongside structured training in communication, handover, escalation and consent.
- Larger-scale simulation exercises, such as foaling emergencies, shelter-capacity surges and disease-outbreak table-top scenarios, will develop students’ ability to make sound decisions under pressure, individually and as part of a team.
- One Health
Recognising the expanding societal role of the profession, One Health, sustainability, and disaster preparedness are explicitly threaded throughout the curriculum and assessed as core outcomes. Irish vets already contribute substantially to biosecurity, antimicrobial resistance mitigation, food systems resilience, wildlife health, and emergency response.
Our programme makes these responsibilities visible, valued and teachable, equipping graduates to engage confidently with national and international One Health priorities.
Professional skills and wellbeing
Professional skills and wellbeing are treated as integral to clinical competence, not peripheral concerns.
- Communication, ethics, emotional intelligence, negotiation and reflective practice are taught alongside clinical sciences.
- The aim is not merely technical proficiency, but the development of calm, ethical clinicians who can lead teams, listen to clients and colleagues, and sustain themselves over the course of long and demanding careers.
A fair and holistic approach to admissions
The admissions process to the new veterinary medicine programme has been designed to be fair, modern and aligned with the values of the veterinary profession. In addition to academic criteria, ATU veterinary incorporates the Casper test, a situational judgement assessment that evaluates empathy, integrity, and professional judgement. These are qualities the public rightly expects of its vets and are closely linked to professional satisfaction, retention and mental wellbeing.
The response to the programme has been very encouraging, with strong levels of interest and applications from across Ireland and beyond, including applicants from almost every county in Ireland. Engagement with the Casper assessment has been positive, with a broad spread of results that will help identify candidates with the professional attributes required for veterinary practice.
Applicants have also engaged constructively with the experience requirement and many candidates have used the experience form to reflect thoughtfully on their exposure to veterinary practice and animal care, demonstrating a genuine understanding of the profession and the responsibilities it entails. We have worked closely with applicants to ensure expectations are clear and accessible, and the process has helped encourage meaningful early engagement with the realities of veterinary work.
Addressing sector-wide challenges
This educational model is intentionally and strategically aligned with the structural challenges facing the profession. By locating clinical facilities in the northwest and embedding learning within regional practices and farms, ATU veterinary aims to strengthen rural capacity and address uneven workforce distribution. Evidence consistently shows that graduates are more likely to work where they train; our placement network is, therefore, designed to mirror areas of service need.
Graduates who have repeatedly rehearsed core procedures, communication strategies, and triage decision-making in realistic settings are safer and more effective from their first days in practice. This benefits employers, clients, and animals alike, while improving early-career retention.
The Mountbellew farm and herd health hub will focus on preventive medicine, fertility, nutrition, data-informed herd management, and farm biosecurity, supporting the sustainability of large-animal practice. In parallel, the Letterkenny referral service will enhance access to advanced diagnostics and continuity of care west of the Shannon.
A strong emphasis on antimicrobial stewardship, surveillance literacy, and risk communication equips graduates to contribute meaningfully to public health and food security agendas. At the same time, embedding wellbeing, teamwork and reflective practice into assessment fosters professional habits that protect against burnout and strengthen workplace culture.
Measuring success
Success will be judged not only by accreditation milestones, but by impact. As our graduates progress through the programme we will move towards full accreditation aligned with VCI, the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) and Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) standards, supported by robust quality assurance and continuous improvement processes. Graduates will demonstrably meet ‘day one competences’ and EPA thresholds, with validation from employers and external examiners.
Outside of the university, regionally, and in the profession, we expect to see improved access to referral care, stronger local EMS and CPD ecosystems, and enhanced retention in early career practice. Ultimately, public trust will be reflected in veterinarians who communicate clearly, act ethically, and understand their role within the wider social contract.
A partnership model
With reasonable assurance now in place, ATU veterinary is formally part of Ireland’s veterinary education system. The national providers of veterinary education cannot address workforce sustainability, rural capacity or One Health challenges alone. We are committed to working collaboratively with existing providers, including University College Dublin (UCD) and South East Technological University (SETU), and we need the heads, hands, and hearts of the profession to support our mission.
Practices can support the programme by hosting EMS students and nominating mentors, supported by ATU staff and feedback tools. Colleagues may wish to contribute as guest teachers, skills demonstrators, OSCE or DOPS examiners.
There are opportunities to co-create regionally relevant CPD, participate in a Rural Practice Summit addressing out-of-hours provision and graduate onboarding, and collaborate on audit projects feeding directly into teaching and professional development. Support for simulation, equipment, scholarships or hardship funds, as well as outreach and community engagement, will further strengthen the programme’s reach and relevance.
In return, ATU veterinary commits to keeping teaching practical and relevant, streamlining administrative processes for placements, sharing CPD and teaching resources, providing access to a developing telehealth network, publicly recognising partner practices and reporting transparently on outcomes.
This is a profession-first endeavour. Our success will not be measured simply by the number of graduates produced, but by the difference they make, for animals, farmers, clients, colleagues and communities. Ní neart go cur le chéile – we are stronger together
Call to action
If you can host students, examine OSCEs, deliver a skills day, co-author CPD, sponsor equipment or share your expertise, we would welcome your involvement. Please contact ATU veterinary by email: