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This paper discusses the sources of information available for veterinary science, and their use by practitioners. It is divided into three sections: a background discussion, based on a selective literature survey; a report of a survey of information use by veterinary surgeons; and a description of Internet resources serving this area.

Purpose – The chapter aims to explore women's entrepreneurship in the sciences, specifically, veterinary medicine, and to highlight future potential.

Methodology/approach – Following a review of the extant literature, the chapter employs a single case approach to explore the experiences of a woman academic entrepreneur in the field of veterinary medicine.

Findings – The findings support the view that women are significantly under-represented in the sciences (SET/STEM) both as professionals and as entrepreneurs. The chapter also finds that, due to a relatively low number of veterinary professionals currently working in industry and/or commercialisable research areas, the sector offers significant potential for entrepreneurship, particularly among women veterinarians.

Research limitations/implications – Despite providing rich and meaningful insights that enhance understanding, the single case approach limits the potential for generalising the findings.

Practical implications – Given the significant increase in the number of women entering veterinary education in recent years, the chapter has important implications for how gender is considered in the promotion of entrepreneurship within veterinary medicine curricula.

Social implications – In view of the imminent gender shift within the profession, the case discussed in this chapter serves as an important role model to encourage more women to engage in entrepreneurship.

Originality/value of chapter – As one of the few studies offering insights on women's entrepreneurship in veterinary medicine, this chapter helps enhance our understanding of the field.

Agriculture and associated services are central to the rural economy of the United Kingdom. Rural veterinary enterprises are important providers of services to livestock producers, but are now facing concerns over their future economic viability. The objectives of this chapter are to outline the changes occurring in the veterinary and agricultural sectors, and to explore the main issues affecting veterinary enterprises in a changing business environment.

This is a conceptual chapter contextualised mainly within the United Kingdom. As such, the methodological approach comprises a critical review of current academic literatures, as well as government reports and relevant media articles.

The findings demonstrate that the commercial success of rural veterinary enterprises is critical to ensuring the future provision of high-quality animal health services to both farmers and government. The current issues facing farmers are likely to affect their willingness and resources to invest in veterinary services. Furthermore, farmers may have doubts as to vets’ ability to provide business-focussed services that add value. In addition, many public services are outsourced to private veterinary enterprises, and forthcoming policy changes are expected to lead to reduced income from public sources for both vets and their livestock farming clients. While wider issues affecting agriculture are beyond the control of private veterinary practitioners, veterinary enterprises will need to ensure that they can deal with such challenges and, where required, adapt their services accordingly.

The chapter is based on a review of extant literatures, and the scope of the research is therefore limited to existing knowledge about the farm animal veterinary business landscape.

The chapter summarises current knowledge of the challenges facing rural veterinary enterprises. While some of the issues described are specific to the veterinary sector, many are also relevant to other rural SMEs providing knowledge-intensive services to farmers. The chapter also describes areas requiring further empirical research.

This chapter will review teaching approaches used to develop students’ professional skills in preparation for their future role as veterinary practitioners. These approaches support student development beyond the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS. (2014). Day one competences. Retrieved from http://www.rcvs.org.uk/document-library/day-one-competences/) Day One Competences expected of graduates, and emphasize the key importance of life-long skills and resilience in a rapidly changing world.

As veterinary leaders, they will be expected to demonstrate skills in multidisciplinary group facilitation and community engagement. From a global perspective, students are encouraged to reflect on their learning in light of the impact on their local communities and the wider impact on the global ecosystem. This chapter provides an overview of how professional skills are developed over the course of the undergraduate program. Such approaches guide students as they learn to confront and engage with cognitive dissonance (CD) inherent to the role of the veterinary surgeon in practice. Areas where CD is clearly evident in practice will be considered, followed by a review of the teaching approaches to prepare students.

The teaching methods described will include the benefits and challenges of work-based placements, opportunities for self-development and reflection within a tightly packed curriculum, and the importance of facilitating student-led activities to build skills in leadership.

The article briefly describes the research published on use of information sources by physicians and veterinary practitioners. It specifies in particular studies on the use of drug information sources in human and veterinary medicine and outlines the situation of the veterinary profession in Slovenia. It presents the results of a questionnaire survey on the use of information on drugs by Slovenian veterinary practitioners, on how they use information technology and electronic information sources, while it also indicates new possibilities for veterinary medical libraries and professional veterinary organisations how to provide, by new information and communication technologies, relevant information for veterinary practitioners in the most convenient way.

After the 1907 collapse of the new Otago University Veterinary School, a gap of over half a century elapsed before the Massey University Veterinary Faculty was opened in 1964. This interval means linear professionalisation accounts from pre‐modern animal care by farriers and cow leeches to modern cadres of scientific veterinarians are challenged by contingent and particular features in the New Zealand setting. The educational sequence is inevitably linked with other aspects of society, economy and workforce around the veterinary ‘professional project’. Limited research into veterinary development and education in New Zealand includes accounts by veterinarians ‐ Laing’s monographs,4 Shortridge, Smith and Gardner’s history of the veterinary profession, and Burns’ historical sociology thesis.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a currently trending e-learning platform that presumably attract thousands of participants because of boundless participation, are open to any person to enroll, are free to begin and are delivered completely online, thus contradicting the spatial limitations of a traditional classroom. This study aims to present the findings of a study among veterinary science students examining their perceptions of MOOCs. In total, 200 participants were randomly selected for the survey, out of which 177 responded, owing to a response rate of 88.7 per cent. Majority of the respondents (93 per cent) opined MOOCs supplement other learning methods and provide lifelong opportunity. A study report established that Coursera is the largest platform by user base (82 per cent), followed by Udemy (70 per cent), and 65 per cent knowledge seekers ranted the enormous propaganda about MOOCs are not because of the technology’s inherent edifying value, but because of the incredible potentials of lower costs. The participants in this survey valued their course and overall MOOC experience pleasing.

The aim of the study is to explore veterinary students’ perception of MOOCs featuring in their subject of interest. The questionnaire was written in English because it is the teaching language for undergraduates and postgraduates in most Indian higher education institutes, including the one used as a context for this study. The online questionnaires were electronically mailed to a sample of veterinary students (undergraduate and postgraduate) with a consent form seeking their permission for participation in this study and swearing them the confidentiality of their responses. The e-mail included information about the purpose of the study as well as the URL to the survey site, demographic questions on age, gender and education. This part was followed by an important research question asking if the student had heard about the new open online educational system (MOOCs) provided in websites, including Coursera, Edx, Udacity and FutureLearn, among others. Based on respondents’ answers, they were directed to different sections. Students who knew about MOOCs were asked various mode of getting enrolled in MOOCs. If they were not enrolled in any course, the respondents were asked about the limitations to their use. Enrolled students were questioned on their perspectives and experiences with MOOCs. For students who gained certificates, were enquired for their level of satisfaction, opinions about the integration of MOOCs into the veterinary field and hindrances encountered during accessing the course. Out of a total of 200 students who initially agreed to take part, 177 responses were received, with a response rate of 88.50 per cent, with no cases of missing data. The data were stored automatically in the hosted online survey service into a separate database after the submission of the responses. The descriptive data analyses (such as average) were led using the data analysis tool provided.

Even though most MOOCs do not provide academic credit or result in a degree, some of the biggest beneficiaries of MOOCs are students formally enrolled in an academic program, are provided a free mode to obtain additional academic assistance that would not otherwise be available (Parke Muth, 2018)15. Correspondingly, 93 per cent of the students opined MOOCs supplement other learning methods and provide lifelong opportunity. Learning has traditionally cost both money and time. With MOOCs, it now just costs time. In total, 24 per cent of the participants have discoursed free of cost as one of the intentions to choose their course. Almost every respondent (99 per cent) was interested toward online discussion forum, and 91 per cent preferred course materials containing video and audio files were pretty beneficial, while 88 per cent felt teaching through electronic whiteboard was the most advantageous criterion in their course. The study findings indicated that Coursera is the largest platform by user base (82 per cent), followed by Udemy (70 per cent).

The study considered veterinary science undergraduate (BVSc) and postgraduate (MVSc) students alone, veterinary faculties are not included for the survey. There was comparatively less participation of respondents who enrolled or successfully completed a MOOC, which makes the analysis of limitations and satisfaction less reliable. Hence, the study results cannot be generalized as a comprehensive report of veterinary science scholars’ perceptiveness.

Animal health involves household pets and their care, in addition to livestock health and protection from diseases like bovine babesiosis, bovine tuberculosis and heartwater. There are numerous MOOCs offering online, contact or blended interventions in veterinary science and animal health that afford professionals quick and easy options to obtain credentials, including courses in pharmacology and toxicology, practice management, veterinary and para-veterinary studies, veterinary tropical diseases, radiology and wildlife management. As it is necessary to gain an understanding of the veterinary students’ level of familiarity and their insight toward the MOOC concept, the study attempts to explore their knowledge through an online survey.

There are few veterinary libraries or information centres in sub‐Saharan Africa, on average one to two per country. This scarcity makes cooperation all the more vital. For successful cooperation, effective communication structures are a prerequisite. These structures are not only necessary for library staff but for the faculty members they serve as well, in their communication with colleagues in related research fields or veterinary extension projects. (1) The steps taken by the Veterinary Science Library of the University of Pretoria to promote electronic communication in particular, in order to render a more effective information service to its clients and others beyond South Africa's borders are described namely: — the use of the Internet listserv VETLIB‐L; — the use of the non‐university networks SANGONET and HealthLink mainly for community outreach projects; — making the University of Pretoria Academic Information Service's own network, ROMINFO, available to non‐university persons via dial‐in facilities; — the creation of a unique electronic forum facility by the Faculty of Veterinary Science and the Library in conjunction with the CSIR's NIBS, called VETAFRICA, mainly for practising veterinarians needing information. (2) Veterinary lecturer involvement in teaching and research is increasingly dependent on Veterinary Computer‐Mediated Communications (VC‐MC), in Africa and globally. A sampling of some of the dynamically expanding information sources globally available to online veterinary teams and animal health workers, as well as a starter list of contact details of currently available online veterinary faculties, libraries and institutions in Southern Africa, is provided.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the sustainability of small rural veterinary enterprise in light of recent changes in both the farming and veterinary sectors. The overarching research question relates to how small rural veterinary enterprises, especially those at the start-up stage, can meet the needs of their farming clients while ensuring their service offering is both viable and sustainable.

The paper draws on relevant rural enterprise and veterinary literatures as well as case data, and applies selected elements of Scott’s (2008) 7-P sustainability framework.

The authors find that the future sustainability of rural veterinary SMEs is dependent on the veterinary business owners being prepared to change with their clients, develop supportive partnerships and create effective marketing strategies. The authors use the findings to construct an innovative business model to help improve future sustainability of farm animal veterinary business.

The paper adopts a single case approach.

Some policy implications are discussed alongside avenues for future research. The paper contributes to the rural enterprise, agriculture and veterinary business literatures.

This is one of the few rural enterprise studies contextualized in the veterinary sector. The findings should be of value to both practitioners and policy makers concerned with ensuring future sustainability in this important sector.

This paper has the purpose of exploring the potential for entrepreneurship education within veterinary medicine. It aims to examine some of the key themes in the entrepreneurship education literature, discuss the make‐up of the UK veterinary sector, consider veterinary curricula requirements and illustrate how entrepreneurship education can benefit veterinary students.

The approach adopted by the authors includes a literature review, in‐depth discussion and the development of hypotheses for further study.

Entrepreneurship education has the potential to make a valuable contribution to veterinary medicine curricula. This is due to the fact that the majority of veterinary graduates will work in or even own/co‐own a veterinary business (i.e. a small veterinary practice) at some point in their career. In this context, the authors illustrate how entrepreneurship education can enhance both employable and day one/year one skills. The high entry requirements for veterinary programmes and the gender shift towards a predominantly female under‐ and postgraduate population add further interesting dimensions to the paper and present possible avenues for further research.

This is a conceptual paper and it is fully recognised that the concepts and hypotheses proposed need to be further developed and tested at the empirical level. Some interesting avenues for future research that could contribute significantly to this field are also identified.

The paper highlights the potential value of incorporating entrepreneurship education within veterinary curricula. It also identifies how such incorporation can enhance students' employable skills and deliver many of the skills included in veterinary medicine's day one/year one competences' agenda.