RCVS responds to Cambridge recommendation to close vet school

We were very sorry to learn that Cambridge University’s Council of the School of Biological Sciences has decided to recommend to the University’s General Board that veterinary education at Cambridge should cease and, as ever, our first thoughts are with the students and staff team at the veterinary department, who will be affected directly by this news.

As we reported on 25 November 2025, in light of the significant progress made by the vet department at Cambridge over the past 12 months towards meeting our accreditation standards, our Education Committee decided to grant conditional accreditation of the Cambridge veterinary degree programme for a further year to allow time for remaining improvements to be made.

As stated, we appreciate the considerable efforts and hard work that the staff team at the vet department had put into rectifying many of the issues identified in the 2024 accreditation event, for taking on board the constructive advice that was given and working together to make many of the necessary improvements.

We had collaborated with the team within the vet department on putting together an action plan and timeline for meeting the 20 remaining recommendations, and we hoped that the department would continue on its current trajectory towards meeting our accreditation standards.

The visitation panel noted the considerable efforts the department staff had made to make improvements in a relatively short timeframe, and the staff’s commitment to improving the remaining issues was clear. We also understood from discussions during the visitation that the department had the full and ongoing support of the School of Biological Sciences and wider University.

In light of the School Council’s recent recommendation, however, we know that this will be a very upsetting and uncertain time for the vet department staff team and students, so we stand ready to offer as much support as we are able over the coming months.