Our three International Training Centres welcome vets, vet students and new graduates on to our surgical courses throughout the year. Whether you join us at ITC India in Ooty, ITC Hicks in Goa or ITC Thailand in Chiang Mai, you’ll be gaining important hands-on practical skills to help propel your veterinary career!
We’ve been asking some of our past participants why they think taking part in a WVS surgical training course is so invaluable…
1. I've never been in such a supportive, friendly atmosphere when performing surgery at any point in my veterinary medicine degree. I felt comfortable to perform tasks not only with supervision but also with the confidence to act on what I had learnt in my time there – a huge moment for me! No undergraduate gets that much practical experience whilst in college so it’s an amazing opportunity to perform surgery in a safe environment.
2. It’s a great excuse for travel! The fact it’s helping my University degree and that I’ll be surrounded by other vet students just like me, really helped sell the idea of travelling to a brand new country to my parents.
3. I regard the friends I made there as very much friends forever. This includes both my peers taking the course but also all the staff and vets who made the experience what it was. We all shared as friends and equals and when you are adjusting to your new home, that makes it so much easier.
4. Working with people from all over the world is amazing! Hearing about the different cultures and backgrounds people come from and knowing that you’re all here for the same reason really helps unite us all!
5. The chance to help in the wider community is so important. The fact that I could just do some more of the 'dirty work' that goes on to help animals with basic care such as health checks and vaccinations in the local areas was great. Being part of a programme focused on sustainability and isn't just built around accommodating foreign vet students was one of my main reasons for going. You’re helping make an actual difference by providing sterilisation to street dogs who would otherwise not receive it and helping people who can’t afford even the most basic veterinary care.
6. You get such a varied experience – learning about different drugs that may not be used back home, learning about different diseases that affect animals in this part of the world, and observing different surgeries often in challenging field conditions all helps give a real insight into the varied life of a vet! At the Thai ITC in particular, I learnt much more about shelter medicine and how the adoption process works abroad and how it all leads into improving animal welfare in the region.
7. The way domestic animals live and are treated is so different in these parts of the world – you get to observe communal living amongst dogs which is so rare in many other countries.
8. I’ve learnt that relying on myself and trusting my instincts is one of the best anaesthetic monitoring tools. Learning at the ITCs gives you experience in a simpler setting without all the machines so you learn to rely on your own skills.
9. I recommend any vet student or new grad who can get here, does so! The scope of the course with lectures goes beyond just surgery and you will learn much more than just how to spay and castrate! It’s a full-on course that will help you put what you’ve learnt so far in your degree into practise!
10. Who doesn't want to eat great Indian or Thai food every day?!
So, what are you waiting for? Take a look at the dates available for our courses!
We’d like to say a huge thank you to Fabian Rivers (a.k.a. Dready Vet) and Amy Lewis, two of our awesome participants for their helping compile this list!