Waterford reacts to SETU's new veterinary medicine course

With the selection of South East Technical University (SETU) as one of two colleges to get new veterinary medicine courses, Waterford News & Star spoke to locals to get their perspective on the news and see if students in the south east would be interested in studying the new course.

Mabel Facos and Isabelle Mooney who were studying in John Roberts Square, highlighted the difficulty in getting a place on a veterinary medicine programme.

“It’s really cool that they’re starting a programme here," said Mabel, who would have considered studying vet medicine had there been more choices.

"There aren’t many places that have it as a course so it's really hard to get into it. It’s really good there are more options now," she said

Both students, who are currently studying pharmaceutical science, said they considered the course when filling out their CAO applications due to their love of animals. Asked if they would switch over to a vet med course next September, Mabel said: “Oh you never know, if this course starts killing me I know where I’m going."

Isabelle said the addition of the course to local colleges was crucial, “especially because of the commute".

She went said for students who live in the country “you can’t really make ends meet going to Dublin, it’s too expensive to rent, accommodation is ridiculous [and] the commute is too long and draining.” 

Ronan Cleary, who is a student at SETU, said his twin sister had hoped to study veterinary medicine but ended up choosing to study social care due to the difficulty in getting into a relevant course.

"She thought about going abroad but thought she would miss people too much,” he said.

He said his sister had been disappointed that studying vet medicine wasn’t an option for her, commenting: "She doesn’t know about the new course yet, I’ll chat to her after this and I’d say she’ll be really annoyed that she has just given up on that course.” 

Kyle Walsh, from Kildare, is a SETU student studying architecture and long with his classmates Conor McLoughlin and David Martin, he praised the addition of a vet medicine programme to his university saying it would keep more local students in the country.

“My girlfriend’s best friend, went over to Poland to study vet, she’ll probably stay over there to work or go abroad to somewhere like Australia now. The courses here are hard to get into, with very limited numbers,” he said. 

For those lucky enough to get into the UCD course, there are still issues however: “Getting up to Dublin is ridiculous, I literally only live an hour away but it would take me longer to get to UCD than it does to Waterford.” 

Fintan Walsh warmly welcomed the announcement: “It’s important for the whole area as a matter of fact with something like that coming to Waterford. I know it’s out in Piltown, which is a very reputable college, so it’s great.” 

Fintan said it was great to have the option for students to stay and study locally instead of having to commute: “Dublin is out of the question for anyone who would need to travel, so it’s good all round.”