Veterinary career ambitions correlate with gender and past experience, with current experience influencing curricular perspectives.
Authors: Kinnison T, May S A
Journal: The Veterinary record
Summary
Between 2005 and 2011, researchers at the Royal Veterinary College surveyed 261 recent graduates (six months post-qualification) to examine how background factors, current employment, and career aspirations shaped perceptions of their veterinary training. Male graduates showed markedly higher representation in farm animal and mixed practices compared to their female counterparts, whilst those raised in urban settings gravitated towards small animal work, whereas rural-origin graduates were significantly more likely to pursue farm animal careers. A notable bias emerged in curriculum evaluation: practitioners working in specific disciplines—whether equine, farm animal, or small animal—consistently rated their own sector as under-represented in their undergraduate training, suggesting that current practice context colours professional retrospection. Against the backdrop of the profession's ongoing feminisation and urbanisation, these findings highlight a concerning trend whereby farm animal and equine career pathways risk becoming less attractive to incoming graduates, with implications for workforce distribution across veterinary disciplines. Educators and researchers should recognise that graduate satisfaction surveys reflect not objective curriculum gaps but rather the career choices and demographic backgrounds of respondents, requiring methodological caution when using such data to inform curriculum revision.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Farm animal and mixed practices should actively promote career pathways to new graduates, particularly female veterinarians, to address workforce recruitment challenges
- •Curriculum design should account for respondent career backgrounds when gathering feedback to avoid bias towards over-represented practice areas
- •Early exposure and mentorship in farm and equine practice during veterinary training may help counter the trend toward small animal specialisation
Key Findings
- •Significant gender differences in career ambitions with lower percentages of females in farm animal and farm-equine practices
- •Urban graduates prefer small animal practice while rural graduates prefer farm animal practices
- •Professionals in specific practice areas perceive their discipline as under-represented in the curriculum
- •Feminisation and urbanisation of the veterinary profession correlates with reduced interest in food animal careers