RVC

RVC photo

The Royal Veterinary College is located on two campuses, one in London (shown), the other north of the city in Hertfordshire.

The Royal Veterinary College is telling students that it appears to be on track, albeit narrowly, to retain its accreditation in North America, potentially averting a crisis that would make it harder for graduates from the United States and Canada to practice in their home countries.

The English veterinary school, widely considered among the best in the world, has come close to losing its accreditation from the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education (AVMA COE) because RVC students who elect to take the North American Veterinary Licensing Exam (NAVLE) repeatedly have fallen short of a minimum 80% group pass rate.

Judging from early indications of student performance in April on the NAVLE, school officials now anticipate the program will remain accredited by the AVMA COE.

"While we do not yet have official confirmation of the results, early indications based on self-reported outcomes from students are encouraging," Vikki Cameron, the RVC's head of admissions and applicant services, stated in a letter sent last week to prospective students. "We believe we are on track to meet the required threshold."

An RVC spokesperson confirmed the letter had been sent to applicants who had been offered admission. 

A letter sent Thursday to existing students from the school's principal, Dr. Stuart Reid, provided details: Of 173 students whom the RVC is aware took the exam in April, 137 passed, equating to a pass rate of 79.2%.

In the letter, a copy of which was viewed by the VIN News Service, Reid states that such a pass rate would clear the threshold of the exact binomial confidence interval, an alternative statistical calculation applied by the U.S. accreditor to programs with below-80% pass rates.

"This is positive news but do please note that all this assumes that the data reported to us are accurate and, to be clear, final decisions rest with the COE," Reid wrote.

Reid stated that the RVC has requested an early release of the official figures from the International Council of Veterinary Assessment, which administers the NAVLE.

At the same time, the school has been taking steps to blunt the consequences of a worst-case scenario. Reid said in the letter that the RVC is awaiting a reply from the COE to a request for a "teach-out grandfathering protection of enrolled students." This, presumably, would allow students already enrolled to be treated as those from an accredited program, regardless of the latest exam results.

"Of course, this would not be required were we able to confirm the figures above, something I expect to be able to do by June 12," Reid said, referring to the NAVLE pass rate he cited.

"I am providing this preliminary information exceptionally as I realize several of you are wanting to make informed decisions with the best and most up-to-date information available," Reid told students. "There is no doubt that the improvement in performance is unprecedented and I am grateful to all those involved in the effort. I am particularly grateful to our students in final year who stepped up in such a fashion and have worked so hard to achieve their success."

The AVMA COE, which typically does not speak to the press about individual schools' accreditation status, did not respond to a request for comment.

If an accredited school's students fall short of the minimum 80% NAVLE pass rate for two consecutive years, the school is placed on "probationary accreditation." If they fall short for four, the program is placed on "terminal accreditation," according to COE policies and procedures. The RVC has missed the minimum pass rate for three consecutive years — coming in at 71%, 63% and 60% during the 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years, respectively — and worked intensively with students to try to improve its performance.

An RVC student described the development as "promising," adding, "We are still teetering on [feeling] relief. As you can assume, we have become a bit jaded in this experience." The student asked not to be named in case the school disapproved of their speaking with the press.

The RVC isn't the only veterinary program in the United Kingdom that appears to have improved a substandard NAVLE performance in time to prevent a potential loss of U.S. accreditation.

The University of Glasgow's School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine states on its website that students who took the NAVLE last fall achieved a pass rate greater than 90% and that it is hopeful students who took the exam this spring performed well also.