Knowledge Integration in a Veterinary Science Degree Course. A Pedagogical Basis for a Revised Philosophy?

as students use rote learning to cope with the large volume of factual information. The curriculum of the new Nottingham vet school was designed to reflect an important report into these current issues in veterinary education, the Pew national veterinary education program [4], which was concerned with veterinary education in the USA and Canada, and the foundation statements of EAEVE in 1990. These outlined a need for a change in how veterinary education is delivered with an emphasis on a deeper understanding of the scientific principles which underpin clinical training, rather than a passive recall of facts, an emphasis on problem solving and professional and personal skills training. A need for lifelong learning across the whole University sector was also highlighted by other influential reports such as the report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (Dearing report) in 1997 [5] and the report of the National Advisory Group for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning: Learning for the 21st Century (Fryett report) in 1997 [6]. These reports also needed to be considered when developing the Nottingham course.