University of Queensland Veterinary Students Association (UQVSA)

Mission

The role of the UQVSA is to support the veterinary science student body by:

Representing the student body within the university and the animal health care industry as a whole.
Providing educational resources, equipment and recreational amenities
Acting as a central coordination and approval system for negotiating funding and sponsorship from the vet school, university, corporate and government sectors and from other external bodies
Organising professional seminars
Organising social events

By managing these functions, the UQVSA aims to provide a professional voice of representation for UQ veterinary science students, while supporting their needs to help them graduate not only with an excellent education, but also a rewarding and enriching university experience.

Affiliations

International Veterinary Students Association
Australasian Veterinary Students Network

Representation

AVA (Qld Branch) Student Representative
The UQVSA appoints two student representative to sit on the Australian Veterinary Association (Qld Branch). This gives UQVSA members direct access to AVA policy issues and to allow articles relating to UQ students to be placed in AVA newsletters.
Teaching and Learning Committee
UQVSA along with year representative from each cohort in the BVSc course attend meetings of the UQ vet school’s ‘Teaching and Learning Committee’. This is the forum that allows students to suggest changes and improvements to courses and allows important education decisions from the vet school and/or the university to be fed back to the vet school’s student body.

Special Interest Groups

The UQVSA hosts several Special Interest Groups (SIGs) including;

Equine
Beef/Dairy (Bovine Appreciation Group)
Animal Welfare
Wildlife
Biosecurity and Veterinary Public Health
Veterinary Business Management Association

Equipment

With the help of corporate sponsorship the UQVSA has been able to provide students with the following Pot Room equipment;

Networked computers (3)
Scanner
DVD/ VHS video and TV

And facilities in Mona’s including;

Fridge
Toasters, sandwich makers, kettle
Outdoor furniture
Table tennis table
Lockers

Gatton Relocation

As representative of the student body, the UQVSA is very supportive of the relocation of the vet school to the Gatton campus which promises new world-class teaching facilities.

The UQVSA is actively contributing to the final design of the new school by hosting discussion forums and but submitting recommendations to improve the quality of teaching and studying facilities. In addition, UQVSA is coordinating a student "Gatton Fund", to furnish and equip a student social area and appropriate facilities (UQVSA office, fax, phone, computers, reference books, dining area, white goods, furniture).

The student body has full confidence in the vet school and university administration to execute the move seamlessly and to create a new school at Gatton that will rival the best in the world. The Gatton-based vet school will attract world-class teaching and research staff which will result in enhanced education for UQ veterinary science graduates.

Media

The UQVSA may from time to time issue media releases or provide comment to the media on issues as they effect veterinary education at UQ. As such, all UQVSA members should be aware of appropriate protocol and procedures when dealing with the media. Any requests to a student for media comment should be directed to the UQVSA to manage the media process. This will ensure any media issue is managed correctly and a consistent message is given to the media. UQVSA will approve (usually) a single trained and well-briefed media spokesperson to handle media enquiries.

UQVSA has contributed media releases and media expert comment;

supporting the UQ vet school’s use of pound dogs for anatomy and surgery studies
the relocation to Gatton Campus
Veterinary Leadership Experience (VLE) and ‘Vet for Life’
Vet students providing pet health checks for ‘K9 Capers’ and ‘A New Leash on Life’

Membership

UQVSA membership costs $55 for initial membership and $5 per year thereafter for continuing membership.

For more information

Cath Clark
UQVSA President
Vet IV
s4076381@student.uq.edu.au