DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLS AND CONTENTS ON WILDLIFE WITHIN THE DEGREE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE AND MASTER'S DEGREE OF ANIMAL MEDICINE, HEALTHCARE AND IMPROVEMENT

Abstract

The diversity of wildlife species present in Andalusia makes this community one of the most biodiverse within Europe. Furthermore, the environmental changes affecting the society over the last few decades show a greater integration and unification of conservation mechanisms and exploitation of natural resources. These factors implicate an higher demand of specialists in biology, management, healthcare and wildlife conservation. The main objective of this study was to provide undergraduates studying the Degree in Veterinary Medicine as well as postgraduates studying the Master's Degree in Animal Medicine, Health and Improvement at the University of Cordoba (Spain), the skills and abilities needed for their professional training, particularly across biology, management, health and wildlife conservation. This work involved the cooperation of a multidisciplinary team which included professors from different fields of knowledge. The present study was carried out by 10 professors and two PhD students from two departments and three fields of knowledge. New methodologies and teaching materials were developed and implemented as theoretical and practical teaching in at least four subjects of the Degree in Veterinary Medicine and another one in the Master's Degree in Animal Medicine, Healthcare and Improvement. A total of 105 students participated in 28 external fieldwork between October 2015 and June 2016. The activities enabled students to obtain basic, transversal and specif skills in the Degree in Veterinary Medicine related to the main functions of the wildlife vets, including species and diseases recognition and sampling methods in wildlife. Moreover, biological and audiovisual tools were developed in order to help the assimilation of theoretical-practical concepts of the differents subjets.