AVMA to study foreign veterinary school accreditation, global activities and governance St. Louis, MO. — The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) House of Delegates (HOD) voted July 15 to study the value of the association's foreign accreditation and globalization efforts.
The HOD approved the formation of a foreign accreditation task force. The resolution, which passed with 64.1 percent of the HOD vote, requests that the AVMA Executive Board create a task force to examine the association's foreign accreditation programs and processes.
Since the 1940s, the AVMA Council on Education (COE) has accredited 16 foreign schools, including five in Canada. The resolution notes that 11 of the 16 accredited schools have been accredited since 1998.
The HOD also unanimously passed a resolution requesting a comprehensive report from AVMA staff summarizing the association's current role in global veterinary activities.
"The House of Delegates is interested in how much of the association's human and financial resources are being dedicated to global efforts in to determine if this is an appropriate use of the members' assets," said Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief executive officer of the AVMA. "International communities continue to request the AVMA's leadership in veterinary medicine and education, which has understandably drawn questions from some of our members. This gives us the opportunity to study and then communicate how the association's participation in the international arena benefits all veterinarians, most importantly our members."
In addition, the HOD also passed a resolution calling on the Executive Board to create a task force to study the association's governance structure to ensure it will be able to meet the need of our members into the foreseeable future. This will include a review of the association's member participation.
Resolution 10, which calls for the creation of the governance and member participation task force, notes that a report by the AVMA's 20/20 Vision Commission, which was tasked with helping the association prepare for the future, called for the association to be governed "in a transparent, inclusive and more democratized manner."
The HOD met as part of the annual AVMA Annual Convention, which was held in St. Louis.
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The AVMA, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest and largest veterinary medical organizations in the world. More than 81,500 member veterinarians worldwide are engaged in a wide variety of professional activities. The year 2011 is being celebrated by veterinarians around the world as Vet2011, the 250th anniversary of the birth of veterinary medicine and education.
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