university of pretoria onderstepoort 2024-2025

university of pretoria onderstepoort 2024-2025

The University of Pretoria was founded in 1908 as the Pretoria Centre of the Transvaal University College. An act of Parliament changed its name to the University of Pretoria on October 10, 1930. Today UP has over 50,000 students and has established itself as one of the foremost higher education institutions on the continent, if not the world. It has evolved from a predominantly white, Afrikaner institution to a multicultural, multiracial university that provides a great education to South Africans from all walks of life.

OER Africa has collaborated closely with UP’s Faculty of Veterinary Science (known as Onderstepoort) over the last three years to promote the establishment of its African Veterinary Information (AfriVIP) Portal. This portal is part of the Faculty’s 2012-2016 Strategic Plan, and it is part of a larger vision to share all of its intellectual property under an open license.
At Onderstepoort, AfiVIP is being utilized to systematically integrate the use of open educational resources (OER) into both formal educational programs and continuing professional development (CPD) activities. OER Africa has begun a two-year work program with the Faculty to maintain and expand on this effort by:

• Assisting with the effective creation of CPD courses that make use of openly licensed resources available in AfriVIP;
• Collaboration with academics to include the AfriVIP Portal and its resources in the delivery of both postgraduate and undergraduate programs.
• Facilitating a larger institutional advocacy process to convey the lessons acquired at Onderstepoort as the foundation for the redevelopment of key institutional policies;
• Expanding participation in the development and management of the AfriVIP Portal to other veterinary science faculties in Southern and Eastern Africa.

As part of its Participatory Action Research grant, OER Africa is also helping the faculty’s curriculum review processes, with a special focus on researching how OER might be utilized to improve teaching and learning at the university.

Onderstepoort Skills Laboratory

• Increasing student numbers, worries about animal care, and a decrease in the availability of teaching animals were all reasons that led to the founding of the Clinical Skills Laboratory at the Faculty of Veterinary Science in 2015. There has been a substantial shift in the way clinical skills are taught throughout veterinary curricula around the world, leading to the development of veterinary-specific simulators and models.
• Students can practice on commercial and in-house-produced veterinary training models and simulators at the Clinical Skills Lab, building their skills and confidence before being exposed to real animals. Instruction manuals, QR codes linked to YouTube videos, and structured and unstructured practicals give appropriate support. 
• The Clinical Skills Laboratory provides veterinary and veterinary nursing students with an engaging, safe, and stress-free learning environment in which to practice their clinical skills.