Mexican veterinary school appealing COE decision

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A Mexican veterinary school is appealing an adverse decision made by the AVMA Council on Education at its Feb. 28-March 2 meeting in Schaumburg, Ill.

Word of the appeal came within the required 30 days after the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia had been notified of the council's decision.

Accreditation decisions are confidential until they become final; however, an appeal is considered a matter of public record.

An appeal by a foreign veterinary school not already accredited by the COE can be interpreted two ways: the school was either denied initial accreditation and is petitioning for reconsideration or was granted limited accreditation and is petitioning for full.

Now that UNAM is petitioning for review, the school has 60 days from when it was notified of the adverse decision to submit information supporting its petition, according to the council's accreditation policies and procedures.

Meanwhile, the AVMA Executive Board will appoint a panel that will hold a hearing on the matter within 120 days after receipt of information supporting the petition.

The last time a veterinary school or college appealed a COE decision was in 2000, when the Western University of Health Sciences filed an appeal.

For more information on the appeals process, visit www.avma.org/education/cvea/coe_appeal_decisions.asp.

UNAM first expressed interest in COE accreditation in 1996. Since then it has been working to bring the school up to COE standards.

In spring 2006, the COE made a consultative site visit to Mexico City, and, afterward, laid out recommendations for UNAM to implement to work toward accreditation. The school sent a video more than a year later for the COE to view showcasing the completion of curriculum and facilities upgrades designed to meet conditions cited by COE officials in the 2006 consultative site visit report.

Additional interim reports provided by UNAM and reviewed by the COE resulted in the council granting a request from the college for a comprehensive site visit, which occurred in November 2009.

Malinda Larkin

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