France evaluates the joining together of its four veterinary medicine universities

Bearing in mind that the fields of action of the veterinarians are increasingly more diversified and that they include the control of the health hazards (infectious and chemical) as well as the conservation of the environment and the assurance of the animal welfare, the French Ministry of Agriculture has decided to consider the possibility of creating a veterinarians' national center joining together the four existing veterinary medicine universities.

With the joining together of the four veterinary medicine universities by the Ministry of Agriculture, the following goals, among others, would be attained:

• enrich the training offers in order to improve their quality and attractiveness;
• adapt the training to the needs of the graduates and of the market;
• increase the number of trained students;
• increase the recognition and the influence at an international level in terms of training as well as in terms of veterinary public health investigation and clinical investigation.