The RVC’s LIVE Centre represents a team of educationalists from different academic backgrounds, with shared passion and commitment for enhancing the veterinary professions worldwide through education and learning. We achieve this through our work at multiple levels: student teaching, curriculum design and development, educating educators, developing and supporting education leaders and researching ways of improving the education of veterinary professionals locally and internationally.  

The four-point approach to our work is as follows:

Leadership

We aim to support those already in and those aspiring to leadership roles within education and veterinary practice:

• Our Postgraduate Diploma in Veterinary Education is targeted particularly at educators who are currently in leadership roles or would like to develop themselves to take the lead in areas of veterinary education, whether this is implementing a mentoring role in practice, strategic development of work placements, module/ curriculum leadership or driving professional education.
• Through the RVC’s Certificate of Advanced Veterinary Practice we offer the module
  Principles of Coaching and Mentoring Development in Veterinary Practice
• We provide continuing professional development in a range of veterinary and education leadership areas, including conference sessions at national and international meetings, a webinar-based programme on coaching and leadership and a 2-day veterinary leadership retreat

Innovation

Through our research, we are committed to contributing to innovative education practices and the evidence-base surrounding veterinary professional development:

• Our MSc students research a broad range of education, leadership and professional issues, and typically go on to publish their work in peer-reviewed journals and to present at veterinary conferences nationally and internationally.
• Our areas of research include distance and online education, professional identity, evidence-based veterinary practice and interprofessional education.

Veterinary practice

We support the quality and enhancement of veterinary practice via a number of activities:

• We lead the Principles of Veterinary Practice strand within the BVetMed degree; this is where our veterinary students learn to communicate well, solve problems that extend beyond clinical diagnosis and treatment, engage with business principles and concepts, and develop their identity as resilient professionals who work to a high standard with colleagues and clients.
• Representation on a variety of education committees within and outside the RVC, which includes contributing to strategic management of veterinary and veterinary nursing programmes and curricula, programme accreditation and quality assurance, and profession-level education development for both veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing.
• Leadership of the Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice module in Foundations of Advanced Veterinary Practice.
• Collaborating with the RVC Nursing School to design and implement interprofessional education opportunities.

Education

Education is at the heart of everything we do and we are passionate about creating opportunities for learning and growth for a diverse set of veterinary learners. We have a long history of supporting educators to help their own students learn well, which includes the following opportunities:

• The Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and MSc in Veterinary Education, which is accredited by AdvanceHE, and through which we support early career educators with their teaching practice, veterinarians and veterinary nurses in clinical practice who have teaching or mentoring roles, current and future education leaders and academic educators looking to develop their educational role.
• Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: a short-course format providing an introduction to the principles of educating in a veterinary context
• Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice module: Teaching in the Veterinary Workplace