Features

Mountbellew celebrates 120 years and new veterinary school 

29 Jan , 2025  

Mountbellew Agricultural College in Co. Galway celebrated its 120th anniversary by becoming a new veterinary school which will see it play an integral role in adding to the number of vets in Ireland. 

Established in 1904, Mountbellew is Ireland’s oldest agricultural college with over 900 students enrolled in its programmes and 35 full-time staff on its books. The news that the new Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery course will be delivered on a partnership basis by Mountbellew and ATU (Atlantic Technological University) Donegal was announced at this year’s National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, Co. Laois by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science Patrick O’Donovan, and Minister for Agriculture, Food & Marine Charlie McConalogue. 

Another new veterinary school will be located at South East Technological University in Kilkenny. Before this, the country’s only veterinary medicine course was in UCD. 

“This is a momentous development for both ourselves and ATU Donegal, and the wider region,” Mountbellew Agricultural College Principal Dr Edna Curley enthused. 

“Subject to programme validation and other required approvals, the first intake of veterinary students in Letterkenny will take place in September 2025. They will be based in both ATU Donegal and Mountbellew over the duration of their course. While the initial intake will be 30, the figure is expected to increase each year thereafter. When the HEA (Higher Education Authority) sought expressions of interest to facilitate the course, we applied and were delighted to be accepted. 

“We already provide a comprehensive range of training programmes for those engaged in the agricultural and food-related sectors.” 

Dr Curley added: “Our veterinary students will have access to state-of-the-art facilities, including upgraded animal handling facilities, dairy development and large animal simulators, ensuring they receive the highest level of practical training. This will not only benefit the veterinary profession, but also the broader agricultural industry by ensuring there are more qualified professionals in Ireland.” 

The new veterinary school aims to address the increasing demand for veterinary professionals, particularly in rural areas, while significantly boosting educational opportunities in the West and North West regions of Ireland. ATU’s new Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery (BVMS) programme will open its doors to a new generation of Irish veterinary students, providing them with world-class education closer to home. 

ATU President Dr Orla Flynn also welcomed the announcement, adding: “We are immensely proud to be chosen as a second institution in Ireland to offer Veterinary Medicine. The new veterinary school will play a pivotal role in ensuring that Ireland has the veterinary workforce it needs to support its vibrant farming, food and animal health sectors. 

“On behalf of ATU, I would like to thank Minister O’Donovan, Minister McConalogue and the Higher Education Authority for their unwavering support in making this vision a reality. This announcement is not only a testament to the confidence placed in ATU, but also a significant boost for the West and North West, creating new educational and economic opportunities. The impact of this new veterinary school will be far-reaching, benefiting both the veterinary profession and the agricultural and food industries for generations to come.” 

The new BVMS programme will be delivered through a dual-campus model, primarily based at ATU Donegal in conjunction with Mountbellew Agricultural College. This innovative approach will allow students to benefit from ATU’s cutting-edge facilities, practical experience in rural environments, and a strong focus on large-animal care, an area in which Ireland faces particular shortages. 

The veterinary profession in Ireland is currently facing several challenges, including an aging workforce in rural areas and difficulties in retaining veterinarians in clinical practice. The introduction of ATU’s Veterinary Medicine programme will directly address these issues by offering more local training opportunities and increasing the supply of skilled veterinarians. 

Graduates will be work-ready, with a strong understanding of rural veterinary practice, ensuring that the veterinary industry can continue to meet the growing demands of Ireland’s agricultural and farming sectors. 

The new veterinary course will complement the existing list of courses offered by Mountbellew in conjunction with ATU. These include: Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Environmental Management; Bachelor of Business in Rural Enterprise and Agribusiness and the Bachelor of Engineering in Agricultural Engineering; Adult Certificate in Agriculture Level 5 / Level 6 (SP); and Teagasc – Certificate in Agriculture Level 5 and Advanced Certificate in Agriculture Level 6. 

Short courses in skills training, farm management, farm safety and other farming-related topics are also available throughout various different periods of the year depending on demand, with part-time and online courses also being quite popular. 

“We’re a campus of ATU now, so we wear two hats – ATU Mountbellew and Mountbellew Agricultural College. As such, we have more opportunities to grow programmes,” Dr Curley explains. 

Situated in East Galway, Mountbellew Agricultural College has sister colleges in Kenya and Uganda. By coincidence, the Kenyan college is also celebrating a milestone birthday – 50 – this year. 

“Across the two years of our Teagasc programmes, we have 80 learners registered” the Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly woman continues. 

“With 90 first year ATU learners joining each year, we have over 900 learners across all programmes, between Teagasc and ATU. The most popular ATU course among students is still our Agri Science degree programs. In terms of our Teagasc offering, it’s the distance education programmes that we deliver on Saturdays, which are incredibly popular. 

“The distance education programmes are for people that are working full-time, but still need their Green Cert, so they’re completing their program one Saturday a month with some weekly on-line activity, for a duration of approximately 18 months.”  

As for the farms themselves on the Mountbellew campus, the working farm sits on 300 acres of land and includes a 90-cow dairy and 30 suckler herd as well as a dairy calf-to-beef enterprise and a 180-head sheep flock. 

Strong initiatives and fresh ideas are what sees Mountbellew Agricultural College and its students continually recognised for the quality of their agricultural output and farm husbandry techniques from professional organisations, at both local and national level. 

In other exciting news, the college recently received planning permission from Galway County Council for the development of a new ‘Smart Dairy’ which will include a milking parlour, animal handling facility, classroom, training room, viewing gallery and canteen. The proposed facilities will be equipped with the latest technology to allow for “innovative and flexible” new approaches to training and also for supporting sustainable farm production. 

“The new ‘Smart Dairy’ will provide our learners with the opportunity to study in new state-of-the-art facilities, providing an immersive learning experience underpinned by sustainable farm production and performance,” Dr Curley says. 

“The facility will vastly improve the quality of our training, and it has been designed to ensure we maintain our ethos of strongly practical applied programmes.” 

Here’s to the next 120 years of Mountbellew Agricultural College which continues to nurture the next generation of farmers! 

Mountbellew Agricultural College 
Mountbellew, 
Co Galway 
Telephone: 090 9679205 
Email: [email protected] 

First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 12 No 4, November/December 2024

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