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Fantastic opportunity for those wanting to work with animals

22 January 2018

 

Teesside University is working alongside East Durham College to provide a unique opportunity for students to get hands on experience with animals as part of a brand new degree course.

Sam Frost, a former Animal Care and Veterinary Care Assistants student at East Durham’s Houghall Campus.
Sam Frost, a former Animal Care and Veterinary Care Assistants student at East Durham’s Houghall Campus.

The BSc (Hons) Animal Science and Welfare at Teesside University is currently recruiting its first cohort for a September start.

The new course provides students with the skills and expertise to support the animal care industry, such as animal science and genetics, animal behaviour and animal welfare.

The animal care industry is worth £1billion to the UK economy and has upwards of 13,000 businesses and 78,000 employees.

As part of the degree programme, the University has teamed up with East Durham College to give students access to its Houghall Campus site, in Durham, which houses a purpose-built animal care centre and agriculture unit. Specialist modules in animal behaviour and animal welfare will be delivered at the site, where students will be supported by specialist staff.

The animal care centre is set on a stunning 476-acre site, minutes from Durham City Centre. It has several specialist facilities including a snake house, lizard house, tortoise house, aquatics and small mammals house. There is also a commercial dog grooming studio, 22-bay dog kennel and a dog agility and walking area. The site is also home to horse riding stables, an arena and commercial pig, sheep and cattle facilities.

Students of Teesside University will have the opportunity to visit and work at the centre one day a week as part of their course.

East Durham College already offers a wide range of animal care courses and will now be supporting Teesside University to deliver training at degree level.

Animal care is a growing sector which can lead to a wide range of employment opportunities.

Dimitrios Nicolaou

Dimitrios Nicolaou, Associate Dean in the University’s School of Science, Engineering & Design, said: 'We are delighted to be working alongside East Durham College to provide our students with this fantastic new learning opportunity.

'Animal care is a growing sector which can lead to a wide range of employment opportunities. We pride ourselves on providing students with real life learning experiences and by working with East Durham College our students will have regular access to first class facilities where they can work directly with animals, as well as experts in the sector.'

Carina Tomlinson, Vice Principal for Curriculum & Performance at East Durham College, added: 'We are absolutely thrilled to be working with Teesside University to offer a unique opportunity for those interested in animal science and welfare to study at both our campuses.

'This exciting new course will allow students to study in our stunning new facilities at Houghall, gaining invaluable hands-on experience that they can use in their future careers in the industry.

'Our Houghall staff are extremely passionate about animal welfare and are very excited about helping to deliver this new degree.'


 
 
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