Innovations in veterinary education: the Charles Sturt University programme (Wagga Wagga, Australia)

Veterinary education must adapt to the changing demands that veterinary medicine is obligated to meet as it serves the needs of the ever-increasing global society. The world community needs the help of veterinary professionals to produce sufficient amounts of safe food, to control and eradicate the increasingly frequent transboundary transmission of disease, and to improve the health of both man and animals, at a global level as well as locally. In recognition of these mounting responsibilities, especially in the need for veterinarians in rural practice, one key venture in Australia has been the creation of the new veterinary school in Wagga Wagga. This paper describes the School's mission and, in particular, the nature of the new veterinary programme that has been created.