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Presented by the Veterinary Faculty ULPGC in October 2008, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) Images and design: Gabinete de Comunicación ULPGC Printed: Servicio de Reprografía y Encuadernación ULPGC Self Evaluation Report VETERINARY FACULTY ULPGC 2008 Self Evaluation Report / VETERINARY FACULTY ULPGC / 2008 Index Page 009 Chapter 0. INTRODUCTION 019 Chapter I. OBJECTIVES 035 Chapter II. ORGANISATION 057 Chapter III. FINANCES 073 Chapter IV. CURRICULUM 123 Chapter V. TEACHING AND LEARNING: QUALITY AND EVALUATION 173 Chapter VI. FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT 203 Chapter VII. ANIMALS AND TEACHING MATERIAL OF ANIMAL ORIGIN 235 Chapter VIII. LIBRARY AND LEARNING RESOURCES 247 Chapter IX. STUDENT ADMISSION AND ENROLMENT 267 Chapter X. ACADEMIC AND SUPPORT STAFF 283 Chapter XI. CONTINUING EDUCATION 291 Chapter XII. POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION 303 Chapter XIII. RESEARCH 309 Acronimes Self Evaluation Report / VETERINARY FACULTY ULPGC / 2008 CHAPTER 0 Introduction 9 Self Evaluation Report / VETERINARY FACULTY ULPGC / 2008 10 Please provide an outline of the main features of the history of the establishment in the period since the last evaluation visit or, if there has not been a previous visit, in the last ten years or so. INTRODUCTION It should cover: CHAPTER 0. • The main organisational changes. • New regulations relating to teaching. • Main changes to the study programme. • Important decisions made by the management of the establishment, or by the authorities responsible for it. • Major problems encountered by the establishment, whether resolved or not. Self Evaluation Report / VETERINARY FACULTY ULPGC / 2008 The creation of the Veterinary Faculty of Las Palmas was published in the Official Bulletin of the Canarian Autonomous Community (BOC) on the 17th of October 1986, depending at that time on the University of La Laguna. Later, the re-alignment of the Veterinary Faculty to the then recently created University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) was published in the BOC on the 15th of September 1989. The Veterinary Faculty is located in the Arucas campus of the ULPGC, in the north of the island of Gran Canaria, some 7 km from the capital city, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It is the only Veterinary Faculty in the Canarian Autonomous Community. The first Full Evaluation Visit to the Veterinary Faculty in Las Palmas took place on 16-22 October 2000. The team’s report included several suggestions regarding major deficiencies which implied that the training given at that time did not satisfy the requirements of Directive 1978/1027/EEC. The main deficiencies were related to a) intensive clinical training covering all major species and disciplines must be increased, b) caseload available for the clinical teaching of students must be increased, and c) access to animal material of different species for structured and controlled work on animal, carcasses and organ inspection techniques for food safety must be increased. From 2000 until now, the Veterinary Faculty of the ULPGC has made important quantitative and qualitative advances. Organisational changes INTRODUCTION Following the recommendations made in the EAEVE evaluation of our Faculty in 2000, from October 2001 (provisionally) and from March 2004 (permanently) a collaborative working agreement between the ULPGC and the Canarian University Foundation of CHAPTER 0. Las Palmas (FULP) was established to manage the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH). 11 The VTH is now governed by a Management Committee, consisting of a President, Vice-president and five voices. The President is the Rector of the ULPGC and the Vice-president is the President of the Social Development Council (Consejo Social). The voices are chosen Self Evaluation Report / VETERINARY FACULTY ULPGC / 2008 as follows: the Manager of the ULPGC, the Dean of the Veterinary Faculty, the President of FULP, the Manager of the FULP, and one member of the Social Development Council representing the social side. The VTH has an external Managing-Director to manage the 12 VTH activities, and its administrative and economic tasks, as well as the staff needed for these tasks. He also acts as secretary of the Management Committee. This restructuring of the VTH has allowed a specific relevant budgetary contribution, making it possible to contract various INTRODUCTION veterinary surgeons, having a positive affect on the increase in caseload, particularly in the case of horses. In addition, a recent collaboration agreement established between the Official Veterinary CHAPTER 0. College of Las Palmas, the ULPGC, the FULP and the Island Animal Sanctuary (Albergue Insular) has allowed a notable increase in the number of cases of small animals. Through this agreement, the Official Veterinary College of Las Palmas makes an annual economic contribution which covers part of the costs of the medical-surgical costs of the animals in the sanctuary at the VTH. With the aim of becoming a reference point at regional, national and international level in terms of animal health and food safety, the Canarian Government created the University Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety (Instituto Universitario de Sanidad Animal y Seguridad Alimentaria-IUSA) in 2002. This institute is made up of five divisions of research at the Veterinary Faculty: Pathological Anatomy, Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Animal Reproduction, Aquaculture and Marine Genetics, and Infectious Diseases and Ictiopathology. As well as its research purposes, currently two doctorate programmes are being taught, which have received a quality mention from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. The ULPGC has carried out an organisational restructuring of the different libraries of the different University centres, integrating them as thematic libraries depending on the General Library of the ULPGC. New regulations relating to teaching A new curriculum was established after the 2000 EAEVE evaluation. The current curriculum was defined and structured by the ULPGC in accordance with: (1) the Royal Decree (RD) 1497/1987, dated 27 November dictated from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science outlining the “Common General Guidelines of Curricula Leading to Official University Degrees” and subsequent amendments Self Evaluation Report / VETERINARY FACULTY ULPGC / 2008 (RD 1267/94, RD 2347/96, RD 614/97, RD 1561/97, RD 779/98 and RD 1651/98), (2) the RD 1394/1991, dated 30 August that state the “Specific Guidelines” referring specifically to the curriculum leading to the Official University Degree in Veterinary Science to its granting, and (3) the European Community Directive 78/1027/EEC, dated 18 December 1978 (which has since been replaced by Directive 2005/36/EU). As a result of the process of the construction and adaptation to the European Space for Higher Education (ESHE), initiated with the Bologna Declaration of 1999, the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science published the latest University Organic Law (LOU), dated 21 December 2001. This Law introduced important changes in the structure of the different University bodies, defining new types and new systems of access to the academic posts. It also established mechanisms for quality assurance in teaching and research through the creation of the Spanish Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation (ANECA). The Law also provided for students and teaching staff mobility and many aspects regarding integration in the ESHE. To adapt to the LOU, in 2003 the new ULPGC Statutes were published (Official Bulletin of the Canarian Autonomous Community BOC, 22 April 2003) regulating the organisation and operations of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The LOU has been recently modified, Modification Law of the University Organic Law (LMLOU), 4 April 2007, establishing two cycles, graduate and postgraduate, in higher education. More recently, new regulations such as the RD 1393/2007, 29 October 2007 (defining the new regulation for the Official Spanish Higher Education Studies replacing the RD 1497/1987), the Order ECI/333/2008 (defining the general conditions of the Veterinary Degree), and the Canarian Autonomous Government Decree 168/2008, 22 July 2008 (regulating the adaptation of the new University Degrees of the Canarian Universities to the ESHE) have been published. Therefore, the current curriculum is nowadays under revision due to these new INTRODUCTION regulations. New buildings or major equipment CHAPTER 0. 13 Many significant advances were implemented from 2000 until now: • As stated previously, several well equipped laboratories integrated in the University Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety (IUSA) have been created. Self Evaluation Report / VETERINARY FACULTY ULPGC / 2008 • A new building including Experimental Animal House and Experimental Surgery has been very recently built. • Following the recommendations made in the 2000 EAEVE evaluation a Food Processing Pilot Plant was built in 2007. 14 • New Freezer Chamber. • Building of a second computer room and renewal of computers. • Installation of a new waste treatment plant (biological and chemical). • Parking. INTRODUCTION • Creation of the Plastination Laboratory integrated into the dissection room in the Anatomy department. • Renewal of the microscopes of the communal laboratories. CHAPTER 0. • Installation of computer equipment in every classroom with a digital projection system. • Installation of a Wi-Fi system with coverage in all the Faculty and VTH. • Computerisation and adaptation of the Library to the new IT technologies/resources. • Loan service