Your first visitation

Before year 0

• Preliminary Visitation: 2 days
• Full Visitation within 3 years

An optional information session with the ESEVT Director is available to answer questions about the ESEVT, the Standard Operating Procedure and the administrative procedures.

A Preliminary Visitation is a prerequisite for membership of EAEVE for candidate Veterinary Education Establishments (VEEs). An experienced Visitor (who chairs) and a Coordinator spend two full days on site, checking that the VEE knows the ESEVT SOP, the Standards and the Day One Competences, and has a process in place to comply. ECOVE then sends ExCom a recommendation on the VEE’s membership and on its readiness to apply for a Full Visitation within three years. If that deadline is missed, another Preliminary Visitation is needed.

Full Visitation

Year 0

• 5 days
• Team of 8
• Accreditation valid 7 years
• SER required

A VEE requests a Full Visitation and must produce a Self-Evaluation Report (SER) for it. A visitation team of eight Visitors visits for five days to establish whether the veterinary degree complies with the ESEVT Standards. Each Standard is judged compliant, partially compliant (Minor Deficiencies) or not compliant (Major Deficiencies).

The team is five experts (Basic Sciences; Clinical Sciences in companion animals; Clinical Sciences in food-producing animals; Veterinary Public Health; Quality Assurance), one practitioner proposed by FVE, one student and one ESEVT Coordinator. ECOVE designates one of the Visitors as Chairperson. Accreditation is valid for seven years from the date of the Full Visitation.

ECOVE decision

After every visit

• Independent committee

The European Committee of Veterinary Education (ECOVE) analyses the visitation report and decides the VEE’s status:

• Accreditation: no Major Deficiencies (Minor Deficiencies may remain).
• Pending Accreditation: one or more Major Deficiencies, for a VEE that previously held Accreditation (or Approval under earlier versions of the SOP). A Re-visitation follows.
• Non-Accreditation: one or more Major Deficiencies, for a VEE that was previously non-accredited or has never had a Full Visitation.

Revisitation

if major deficiencies are detected during Full Visitation

• 2 day on-site visitation
• Request within 1 year
• Held within 2 years following Full Visitation
• RSER required

A VEE that considers it has corrected its Major Deficiencies may request a Revisitation at the latest one year after the Full Visitation, and must produce a Re-visitation Self-Evaluation Report (RSER) for it. The Revisitation must take place within two years of the Full Visitation and can only happen once. If that period is exceeded, the status reverts to Non-Accreditation and only a Full Visitation can be planned.

The team is at least two Visitors: a member of the previous team (most often the Chairperson, who chairs) and a different Coordinator. ECOVE may add Visitors depending on the Major Deficiencies identified.

After a Re-visitation, ECOVE grants Accreditation if all Major Deficiencies are corrected and an ongoing process is in place to correct the Minor ones. Otherwise the status is Non-Accreditation, valid until the next Full Visitation. Accreditation granted after a Re-visitation still runs for seven years from the Full Visitation, not from the Re-visitation.

Interim Report, year 1

Year 1 · if accredited with Minor Deficiencies

• Only with Minor Deficiencies

A VEE accredited with Minor Deficiencies sends an additional Interim Report to the EAEVE Office one year after the Full Visitation, focused on correcting those Minor Deficiencies.

Interim Report, year 3

Year 3

• Every member VEE
• Considered by ECOVE

Three years after the Full Visitation, every member VEE sends a concise Interim Report to the EAEVE Office. A Coordinator designated by ECOVE reviews it, and ECOVE considers it at its next meeting.

• the current Head of the VEE and head(s) of the veterinary teaching hospital
• any major changes relating to the ESEVT Standards since the previous report
• progress in correcting Major and Minor Deficiencies, and plans for the near future
• the expected date of the next evaluation
• an updated list of ESEVT Indicators

If a report is missing or shows potential major issues, ECOVE may ask for further information. If the VEE does not reply within 30 calendar days, or has no convincing plan, ECOVE may send a Coordinator on site (at the VEE’s cost) and, as a last resort, reclassify Accreditation to Pending Accreditation, which requires a Re-visitation.

Interim Report, year 5

Year 5

• Every member VEE
• Considered by ECOVE

Five years after the Full Visitation, every member VEE sends a second concise Interim Report, with the same contents and the same review by ECOVE as the year 3 report.

As with the year 3 report, a missing report or potential major issues can lead ECOVE to ask for information, send a Coordinator on site, and, as a last resort, reclassify Accreditation to Pending Accreditation.