History

The Faculty of Veterinary Science (FVS) first established in 1961, the Faculty of Veterinary Science of Kabul University (FVSKU) was the first veterinary faculty institution at the university level in the country. Following the recommendation of a 1956 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) report to the government of Afghanistan, the faculty planned to set up a five year program leading up to the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) but with no buildings, facilities or equipment of its own and its two full-time and nine part-time staff teaching their classes in the faculty of Agriculture, the faculty was forced to shut down in 1963.

 

Of its 60 enrolled students, 24 went abroad to continue their veterinary education. Most of them returned back and now make up core of Afghanistan’s veterinary academic cadre.

 

The faculty of veterinary sciences was re-established in January 1973, and was given facilities in a building which it shared with two other faculties Kabul University (KU). The (FVSKU) was support for many years by UNDP/FAO projects for assistance to the faculty became operational in May 1975, the faculty could boast of a total of enrolled student strength of 189, and an academic staff of 9 full-time and 3 part- time professors. The original team of experts from FAO consisted of a project advisor and one lecturer, and they organized the faculty loosely into 7 Departments: Anatomy, Physiology, Animal production (AP), Pathology, Veterinary Microbiology (VM), Clinical Studies (CS) and Veterinary Prevention Medicine (VPM).

 

The UNDP assistance brought in quite a lot of equipment and supplies for the laboratories, and the project was also able to start good student and staff library and teaching veterinary clinic in a government -owned building a little remote from the (KU) campus. For this clinic the project hired an additional international expert to teach surgical techniques.

 

However, this assistance proved inadequate to provide for the vertical development needs of the entire five years program of the faculty. With the government insisting on further UNDP as a opposed to bilateral support for the faculty, UNDP, in July 1979, entered to the second phase of its involvement, with a much expanded budget, four more international teaching experts and a career FAO officer as project Manager.

 

Within a few months of its arrival, the new team succeeded in reorganizing and solidifying, with the government’s approval, the departmental structure of the faculty. There were six departments, each with its own elected head of department: Preclinical, Paraclinical, Animal Production, Preventive Medicine, Clinical Studies, and Veterinary Extension. The new curriculum and syllabus of studies presented in this document were prepared by project in collaboration with the national staff.

 

In 1980 academic year (the academic year in Afghanistan is the same as the international calendar year), the faculty had a total of 241 enrolled students. In that year, 108 new students were admitted and the graduating class had 46 students. This was the second batch of graduating students since the reestablishment of the faculty in 1973. In 1979 and 1980 the number of graduates was 28 and 45 respectively. The teaching staff has grown from 7 in 1974 t0 30 in 1980. While the faculty was squeezed for space in its located place, the situation is expected to improve in near future. With a strong fellowship program for postgraduate training abroad and active ongoing recruitment of new graduates, the faculty is anticipating to be fully self-reliant by the time UNDP assistance terminates, in December 1985.

 

Since 1986 up to date the faculty is support by the government of Afghanistan and had further horizontal and vertical development at different aspect of academic staff, student’s enrollment, curriculum and syllabus.