The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) has been carrying out a major review of its careers material. Together with DEFRA and several of the veterinary schools in the UK, RCVS received DfES for funding under the ‘Gateways to the Profession’ initiative. RCVS asked IES to carry out research for the first stage of the project, which aimed to find out about the perceptions that students (secondary and sixth form), teachers and career advisers have about the veterinary profession, and what messages veterinary schools are giving about the profession via open days and prospectuses. IES reviewed careers websites and university information, and run focus groups and interviews with students, science teachers, careers advisers and university admissions tutors.

 For further information about this work, please contact Dilys Robinson at IES

This research has been published as:

Gateways to the Veterinary Profession: Perceptions of Veterinary Careers
Robinson D, Munro M, Baldwin S, Pollard E; Report 443, Institute for Employment Studies; July 2007