ISSN:
1439-0264
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
In Korea, there are 10 veterinary schools and about 500 new veterinarians are produced annually. Veterinary education is 6-year-system composed of pre-veterinary (2 yrs) and veterinary course (4 yrs). Total of 28 to 33 subjects are taught in professional curriculum, including 21 of 23 subjects recommended by the World Veterinary Association (WVA) as minimum requirements for veterinary education. Only economics and botany are excluded. Currently, 6648 veterinarians are active in the profession in Korea; about 31% of these in clinical practice and 69% in non-clinical areas. Korea has 3.5 million pets, 10.4 million livestocks, 105 million chickens, and 0.5 million other animals. In general, 630 livestock units (LU) are covered by each veterinarian. With improvement of economic status and life style change, the number and variety of species of companion animals are expanding, accordingly. Also the importance of molecular biology is recognized and included in the professional curriculum. In these changing times, it is believed that gross anatomy, histology and embryology are essential integral component of found in veterinary education. But the teaching hours of histology, embryology and gross anatomy have reduced 15% during last 5 years due to new subjects. Total teaching hours in professional curriculum is about 4100 hours (pre-clinical 29%, paraclinical 32%, clinical course 38%). Average 200 hours are allocated for gross anatomy, histology and embryology lecture and average 250 hours for laboratory practice. The number of students per class ranges 40–80 depending on schools. The ratio of male and female students is 6–4, and the teaching faculty and students 1–22. The Korean Association of Veterinary Anatomists (KAVA) recommend one cow, five dogs, two pigs, five goats and 20 chickens per 20 students to be used for the dissection. The students are evaluated using various types of exam such as assignments, written and oral tests. Recently some schools are beginning to adopt block lectures and/or PBL.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0264.2005.00669_65.x
