Master of Veterinary Public Health (MC-VPH) // Attributes, outcomes and skills

Intended learning outcomes

This course will reinforce and strengthen all the graduate attributes that will have already been achieved by the participants by way of their primary degree and work experience before enrolling in this Masters course.

Academic excellence will be fostered by utilising the high level professional skills of internationally recognised experts in technical content and adult learning.

This course involves subject material across a wide range of disciplines including veterinary science, management, leadership, outbreak risk assessment, decision-making and communication. Participants in the course will be veterinarians, animal scientists and animal health professionals who are already in positions that bring them into professional contact with the general public and where they are involved in providing leadership in technical matters.

This course specifically addresses issues of leadership development for responding to diseases at population level. These are often transboundary diseases, which are not confined by national borders and thus require multinational approaches to achieving their control.

Working professionally across cultures and social groups is critical both at official levels and also at local levels to ensure community involvement in control programs. It is anticipated that this course will attract veterinarians, animal scientists and animal health professionals from around the world, including from developing countries, and cultural diversity will be deliberately used when assigning students to syndicate work projects.

This course focuses on dealing with animal health issues that are global issues and which require global, regional and local approaches. It is expected that graduates will be prepared and sensitised to opportunities to work at a global, regional or local level, either within their own State or national agencies or through one of the many international veterinary and public health agencies and non-governmental organisations.

The student body, both graduate and undergraduate, within the veterinary faculty already has considerable cultural and national diversity and there is a lot of experience in working within such dynamic and diverse cohorts of students.

Generic skills

Students in the Master of Veterinary Public Health should:

• Possess medium- to high-level computing skills
• Apply critical and analytical skills to the identification and resolution of problems
• Communicate effectively; and
• Have good time management skills

Graduate attributes

• Graduates will have specialised knowledge and skill as required to fill most vital professional roles in animal disease preparedness and response, and be able to investigate, analyse, synthesise and reflect critically on complex information and problems
• Graduates will be aware of the epidemiological, economic, environmental, political, social and welfare factors behind outbreaks of animal disease and disease emergence
• The specialist skills and knowledge achieved will allow veterinarians and animal health professionals to provide advanced services, lead and manage important aspects of veterinary public health; responses, in Australia and internationally