Visits to European veterinary schools by United Kingdom veterinary school staff

In 1979 a questionnaire was sent to 355 academic staff of the six United Kingdom veterinary schools concerning visits to European veterinary schools, as information was sought by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons on staff mobility. Two hundred and thirty seven (67 per cent) replied. Within the previous five years, 32 per cent of 236 staff had made at least one such visit. A further 15 per cent had visited a school more than five years previously, while 53 per cent had made no visit. The sources of finance were extra-university funds (38 per cent of the visits), home university (28 per cent), host university (15 per cent) and personal funds (18 per cent). The British Council was the most frequent outside source. The reasons given by staff for not having visited a school in the last five years were lack of funds (65 per cent of non-visitors), lack of contacts (48 per cent) and lack of time (47 per cent). Inability to speak a foreign language (27 per cent), lack of interest (8 per cent) and other reasons (14 per cent) were also cited. Twenty nine different schools had been visited by 73 individuals in the last five years, Hanover and Utrecht most frequently. Language fluency of the staff was generally poor. There was overwhelming support for the improvement of the facilities and arrangements for study and teaching visits to veterinary schools in European countries.