Faculty of Veterinary Science
Prof GE Swan, Dean
Telephone number: 012 529 8201
Fax number: 012 529 8313
E-mail address: gerry.swan@up.ac.za
Message by the Dean
Good progress has been made in achieving the goals set in the Faculty’s strategic plan, including measures to stimulate its research programme. A special effort was made to increase the number of post-graduate students who traditionally form the mainstay of the research activities. A measure of success is reflected in an increase of 30 % in the number of post-graduate bursaries allocated during the year, and a positive aspect is the fact that almost 60% of the bursars are from previously disadvantaged groups. On the negative side, however, is the fact that the majority of these are foreign students, mainly from other African countries. The result is that although we receive some short term benefits, and contribute to the development of our continent, it does not solve our long-term problem of training sufficient research veterinarians in this country.
The research output of the faculty continued to grow steadily over the past few years. Subsidy units earned from the Department of Education based on scientific outputs increased by 38% compared to the previous year and especially gratifying is the fact that the subsidy per staff member reached 0,59, getting closer to the UP goal of 1,0. A significant contribution to this growth was made by members of the clinical departments who have to deal with serious time constraints. A noteworthy achievement is the fact that all the Faculty’s publications were published in the higher category ISI-accredited journals. In practical terms this resulted in an increase of 51% in the allocation for research received from the university.
In order to increase the relevancy of our research, and to concentrate on problems unique to Africa and on areas in which we have a leading edge, we reviewed the focus areas of the Faculty and decided to focus on the five niche areas identified last year, of which two were accepted for long term support by the IRDP programme of the NRF. It was also decided to strengthen collaboration in research both between departments and with other faculties and organizations such as the ARC-OVI by establishing formal discussion groups based on specific problems, for example the danger posed by bovine tuberculosis in our wildlife. The implementation of this decision will be one of our main challenges in 2008.
Since 1984 an annual highlight has been our Faculty Day, during which staff members have the opportunity to present their research to colleagues and peers. The 2007 event was again a huge success with 24 oral and 15 poster presentations. The occasion is also utilized for the announcement of various awards, inter alia those for Researcher of the Year and for Young Researcher of the Year. These awards serve to recognize and reward scientific productivity in terms of publications over a period of time and thus to motivate especially young researchers.
A climax of the programme each year is the “Sir Arnold Theiler Memorial Lecture” delivered by a prominent guest speaker. This year it was given by Prof AWCA Cornelissen, Dean of the veterinary faculty of Utrecht University in the Netherlands (UU). His theme was: “What makes an excellent faculty of veterinary medicine?” and his answer to this question was that internationally faculties are mainly rated in terms of their research output and by the problem solving ability of their graduates. He also emphasized the mutual benefit to both universities of the formal collaboration agreement between UP and UU.
Prof GE Swan
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