Foreign-Trained Veterinary Swine Medicine Residency Certification Program Offers Multiple Wins

A professor with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine says a program developed to enable foreign trained veterinarians to become certified in Canada is a win for the foreign trained vet, the University of Saskatchewan and the Canadian pork sector.
The Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s Foreign-Trained Veterinary Swine Medicine Residency Certification program provides internationally trained veterinarians who are working in non-veterinary roles in the Canadian swine industry an opportunity to receive veterinary certification in the province in which they reside. Dr. John Harding, a professor of swine medicine with the WCVM, says there are many internationally trained veterinarians working in the Canadian swine industry but obtaining a licence to practice in Canada is challenging due to different educational standards around the world.

Quote-Dr. John Harding-Western College of Veterinary Medicine:
The residents benefit by upgrading their skills and knowledge in swine medicine and hopefully completing successful board certification. With that they can then apply for their veterinary licence in the province that they’re working in and this would be from the provincial vet medical association so this is a clear benefit for the individuals. The Canadian swine industry also benefits though. We have new swine veterinarians entering the workplace. It helps us fulfill the demand for swine veterinarians which we have outstanding. As an aside, this demand is likely to increase in the next ten years simply based on the number of current swine vets that are approaching retirement age so the industry definitely benefits both in the short term as the long term.

Finally, the U of S and the Western College of Vet Medicine and me personally in my role as a swine medicine faculty benefit because we have a new clinical residency program that we’ve developed and that’s around for the long term, we enhance our swine research programs and then personally we get the gratification from working very closely with the really special individuals as they fulfil their dreams to become a swine veterinarian in Canada.

To learn more about the Foreign-Trained Veterinarian Swine Medicine Residency Certification program contact the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.