Mexican veterinary college appeals 'adverse' COE decision

Schaumburg, Ill.

— A Mexican veterinary school is appealing an "adverse" accreditation decision made recently to the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA’s) Council on Education (COE).

COE decisions are confidential unless the schools choose to release information, and Dr. David Granstrom, the AVMA’s education and research division director and COE liaison, declined to comment about any decisions on Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia (UNAM) after the most recent COE meetings. The Feb. 28 to March 2 COE meeting resulted in the accreditation of a veterinary medicine program at Western University, but the AVMA now says it also had issued an “adverse decision” at that time that UNAM now is appealing.

Accreditation decisions are confidential until they are made final, but appeals are considered a matter of public record, according to the AVMA. Without citing specifics about the accreditation decision, the AVMA states that the appeal could be the result of either an initial accreditation denial or the desire to have a partial accreditation ruling changed to full accreditation.

The AVMA Executive Board now must appoint a panel within 120 days of the receipt of UNAM’s appeal petition to hold a hearing on the matter. The last appealed COE decision came in 2000, from Western University, the AVMA notes.

UNAM first sought COE accreditation in 1996 and has been working ever since to meet the group’s standards. COE had its last site visit to UNAM in November 2009.