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  VETNNET

Veterinary European Transnational Network for Nursing Education and Training		  
 
 

Vetnnetconference 2007 in Belgium

This year's conference was a great succes, thanks to the everlasting enthusiasm of our Belgium hosts. Some impressions will appear on this website shortly.

Download the conference program

 

Information for (future) veterinary nurse students:
If you wish to receive information on studying veterinary nursing, you can contact one of our members directly. The contact information for the colleges in different countries can be found under "members". Vetnnet as such is just a network and can not provide any specific information about available courses.

 

New members

Thanks to the hard work of our PR committee, we are happy to welcome all of our new members.

  












intro

Welcome to Vetnnet, the European Network for everyone involved in veterinary nurse training. We are bringing together colleges, veterinary associations, veterinary nurse associations, accreditation bodies and other organisations with an active interest in veterinary nurses. Interested? Take a further look as to what we can offer you and what we can do for each other….

Learning from each other

One of the most important benefits of joining the network is that we can all learn from each other. Each European country has its own way of training vet nurses. Some programs are mainly theoretical while others are mostly practice-based. Some countries have their own legislation, others don’t.

Nevertheless, the tasks and responsibilities of veterinary nurses are not that different. Neither are the competences that they need to have to do their job.

The network facilitates exchanging ideas on how to teach students. For example, we have developed a CD-rom with references to teaching materials that you may want to use. But more importantly, we exchange ideas & materials when we meet each other once a year at our Vetnnet conference.

 

Vetnnet conference

Vetnnet organizes a conference each year, hosted by one of our members. The conference offers a variety of workshops which are interesting for teachers, managers and facilitating organisations. We choose a different theme for each conference to bring the focus of all the workshops together in a final “panel discussion”. This gathering is the highlight of the year for Vetnnet and also offers plenty of opportunity for socialising during the pleasant dinners and excursions. You will also have the possibility to sample the teaching-style of the host college.

 

Student and teacher exchanges

The network offers many possibilities to set up student and teacher exchanges between different countries. This is mostly the initiative of individual members, but the network does facilitate these exchanges. The board and the different workgroups can help you with ideas and share their experiences on how to apply for grants to pay for these exchanges.

The exchanges have proved to be very beneficial for everyone. Students get valuable experience with other cultures, improving their language skills and their self reliability. Most of them also get some life-long friendships out of it or even jobs in their host country!

Teacher exchanges help tremendously with getting fresh ideas for your own teaching program.

 

Quality assurance

One of the goals Vetnnet is pursuing is to promote veterinary nurse training. We want to support existing qualifications and to assist in the development of programs in countries where none yet exist. In the past the network has developed a European syllabus, and helped to set up teaching programs in Ireland and Rumania.

Our constant focus is on quality assurance. We encourage the mutual recognition of veterinary nurse qualifications across Europe (and beyond Europe) and we actively help in setting up a European accreditation system for colleges.

We feel it is important that graduates from one country can work throughout the EU without having to retake any exams.

 

Projects

To help realize our goals, Vetnnet frequently applies for support from the Leonardo da Vinci programme. This programme can be used to start projects for developing teaching materials, to harmonize teaching programs, to set up quality assurance systems and to organise exchanges.

 

Vetnnet and the USA

In 2005, Vetnnet set up a liaison with her sister organisation in the USA: the Association of Veterinary Technician Educators (AVTE). The AVTE has a longer history than Vetnnet and has reached many of the goals that Vetnnet is still working on.

Their have already been several exchanges (students & teachers) between the EU and the USA and we encourage any future exchanges. We also hope to organise joint conferences in the near future.

 

Curious?

About what Vetnnet can mean to you or what you can do for Vetnnet? Please join us as a member or visit one of our conferences.

Colleges that train veterinary nurses can get a full membership (with voting rights). Veterinary- or veterinary nurse associations and other related organisations may become an associate member.

 

Members

Currently, Vetnnet has members representing the following European countries: