Veterinary Student Clinical Extramural Work-Integrated Learning 

Ratified: 16/07/2026 

Purpose 

To advocate for improved processes and structures around veterinary student clinical Extramural Work Integrated Learning (WIL) placements, including clearer expectations for students, participating veterinary workplaces and educational institutions.  

To advocate for governments to financially support students undertaking extramural WIL, akin to the medical Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program or the teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work Commonwealth Prac Payment scheme (Australian Medical Student Association, 2024; Department of Education, 2025; Department of Health, 2024).

 

Policy 

  1. Extramural Work Integrated Learning (WIL) placements must be mutually beneficial to the veterinary student, workplace and university involved.  
  1. Participating veterinary workplaces must be supported by the universities to enable the provision and delivery of these educational and professional outcomes through clear and structured expectations and deliverables. 
  1. The AVA recognises the shared financial burden on veterinary students and workplaces arising from unpaid extramural WIL, and advocates for government funding or co-funding to support students in accessing diverse experiences, and workplaces providing those experiences particularly those in regional or remote parts of Australia. 

Scope 

This policy applies to all veterinary students, their educational institutions, and the participating veterinary workplaces (practices, non-clinical research/government establishments) involved in extramural WIL. This policy does not apply to veterinary education institution delivered intramural WIL, contracted WIL as part of a distributed model or pre-clinical extramural WIL.  

Definitions  

Clinical Extramural Work-Integrated Learning (WIL): To align with current AVBC guidelines in veterinary education extramural work-integrated learning (WIL) refers to unpaid, off-campus practical experiences (also known as extramural placements, externships or EMS) that provide students with essential real-world experiences. These include hands on exposure to diverse animal enterprises, workplaces, professional teams, realistic animal handling across a wide range of settings, such as clinical veterinary workplaces, and professional (research facilities and government establishments)  

workplaces. Extramural WIL enables flexible, student-directed learning tailored to individual career interests and needs, experiences which are difficult to replicate in university-controlled or on-campus environments (AVBC, 2024).  

Goodwill: The voluntary and supportive attitude of veterinarians in providing training opportunities, mentorship, and resources to veterinary students. 

Background 

Educational institutions, as part of external accreditors requirements, are committed to ensuring that veterinary students receive comprehensive practical training as part of their curriculum. Extramural WIL is a critical component of this training, providing students with exposure to a range of veterinary environments, focus on personal areas of interest and build relationships with prospective employers and help to provide long-term workforce sustainability. This allows students to transition from a formal, structured learning environment to self-managed learning with real life context (Cashman & Rackard, 2023). In doing so, there must be an awareness that extramural WIL currently relies on the goodwill of the profession and cannot be assumed as a guarantee. The veterinary sector faces insufficient support for extramural WIL, imposing greater burdens on hosting businesses than in many other health professions due to the fact that AVBC accreditation standards require direct student supervision, which demands more intensive time, operational involvement and liability oversight compared to other fields such as nursing where indirect supervision can be utilised (AHPRA, 2021). Extramural WIL is designed to complement, but not replace the intramural, formal and structured education delivered by educational institutions. 

Potential Issues – From the student perspective: 

  • Financial costs to the student including transport, accommodation (as placements are often outside primary area of residence), cost of equipment/PPE impact on family obligations and the lack of capacity to earn an income.  
  • Inconsistent university oversight of participating workplaces, resulting in unsatisfactory student learning and experience.  
  • Variable clinical caseloads (due to seasonality and workforce factors), leading to rather more observational than practical experiences. 
  • Availability of suitable placements as the number of students seeking extramural WIL can exceed the number of participating workplaces. 
  • Misaligned expectations between the university and the student during extramural WIL. 
  • Variable placement inductions, support, quality of supervision and mentorship between different workplaces leading to potential safety concerns and inequity in educational quality between students. Guidance on how to escalate concerns may be variable. 
  • Lack of clear guidance around insurance coverage for students undertaking extramural WIL and the workplaces hosting them, including uncertainty about what is covered by university insurance. 
  • Psychosocial and physiological safety concerns associated with animal handling and facilities, travel distances, remote locations, fear to challenge unsafe practice if the placement is a requirement for progression and inclusion requirements.  
  • Mental health challenges from financial stress, expectations of completion and competency and clinical burdens experienced on extramural WIL. 

Potential issues – From the veterinary workplace perspective:  

  • Variable guidelines from universities on placement structure and contractual expectations, including insurance requirements.  
  • Lack of clarity on how to sign up as a veterinary workplace to accept students for extramural WIL.  
  • Increased financial, time and workload burdens on veterinary workplace staff without any financial support, with associated impacts on practice profitability. 
  • Lack of resources and workforce capacity to ensure the experience is beneficial for all parties. 
  • Lack of formal teaching and mentoring experience for students. 
  • Difficulties arising from the varied levels of competency and confidence of each student. 
  • Difficulties associated with the variability in case load and staffing when accommodating students.   
  • Potential reputational risks arising from student activities and behaviour.  
  • Restrictions on student participation due to the need to obtain informed consent from clients. 
  • Workplaces that are part of larger business groups may be unfamiliar with relevant internal policies and guidelines for accepting and accommodating students. 
  • Lack of tangible benefits for the practice 
  • It is recognised that there may be benefits in recruiting new veterinarians. 

Potential Issues- From the university perspective 

  • Lack of knowledge and direct control relating to: 
  • The psychological and physical safety of the workplace. 
  • The workplace capacity for and experience with teaching and supervision, in addition to clinical experience. 
  • The level of oversight of standards of care and clinical learning opportunities within the workplace. All workplaces must be compliant with occupational health and safety requirements. 
  • Lack of accountability, the workplace provides the standard of placement outlined by the accrediting body, “to provide a continuum of acceptable evidence-based care across socioeconomically and culturally diverse contexts over a wide range of animal care facilities” (AVBC, 2024). 
  • Inconsistency securing sufficient suitable workplaces for large student cohorts, meeting the diverse expectations of numerous placement providers, and maintaining  effective, meaningful communication and reporting mechanisms to support those placements.  

 

Recommendations 

Responsibilities 

The roles and responsibilities of the educational institution, the practice and the student should be clearly defined and incorporated into a formal agreement prior to extramural WIL. This ensures that expectations and preparations required from all parties are clear from the outset, which helps to ensure  extramural WIL is a valuable experience for all parties (Routh et al., 2023). 

The veterinary students should: 

  • Abide by professional and ethical standards, as well as work health and safety requirements outlined by the university and the workplace.  
  • Nominate an emergency contact and have a known contact within the university. 
  • Be encouraged to raise concerns of safety (physical risks, psychological well-being, ethical issues, and professional conduct) as early as possible to the contact at their educational institution, if they do not feel comfortable addressing their concerns to the workplace, so immediate support by educational institution can be provided. 
  • Adhere to privacy and confidentiality agreements of the host organisation and adhere to all university policies, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and any relevant legislation.  
  • Listen to directives from the staff especially regarding safety around patients. 
  • Be engaged with their extramural WIL showing enthusiasm and willingness to participate in all aspects of veterinary practice.  
  • Come prepared and use existing knowledge and resources from the academic institution to structure learning when undertaking extramural WIL and, where appropriate, ask relevant questions to expand learning opportunities.  
  • Be aware of the goodwill involved in extramural WIL, understanding that the practitioners are contributing their time and experience in a voluntary capacity, and are not trained educators. 
  • Understand that a busy workplace does not always have time to supervise them to learn procedures but that watching the approach of the veterinarian to address a patient’s needs and appreciate complex interrelationship within a veterinary practice is a valuable learning experience (Scholz et al., 2013).Communicate promptly regarding any changed plans in attendance.

The veterinary workplaces accepting students should:  

  • Provide a safe and supportive learning environment for students, providing guidance, supervision, mentorship, and constructive feedback to students.  
  • Undertake a work health and safety orientation as part of the onboarding process and provide an overview of workplace policies and procedures relevant to student  activities and be compliant with occupational health and safety legislation. Where appropriate, cultural and contextual orientation should be included in the onboarding process. 
  • Ensure the highest levels of animal welfare are maintained at all times.  
  • Clearly outline expectations around confidentiality, ethics, social media posting and photography, expected hours of attendance and professionalism within the context of the workplace and established workplace culture.   
  • Adhere to the relevant veterinary practice legislation and Veterinary Board requirements and veterinary professional standards with respect to students performing procedures that are acts of veterinary science.  
  • Ensure transparency to clients about student participation and obtain client verbal and/or written consent is obtained for all activities involving student involvement.  
  • Ensure that appropriate insurance coverage is in place for the workplace and workplace staff.  
  • Promptly communicate any concerns or issues to the educational institution. 
  • Assist the student as necessary with identifying accommodation. 
  • In consultation with the student and educational institution determine if any recommended adjustments can be accommodated within the workplace.

The educational institutions should: 

  • Acknowledge the voluntary participation of veterinary workplaces and recognise that a decision to take on students is discretionary. 
  • Provide clear processes for practices to sign up to host extramural WIL.  
  • Collaborate with workplaces that may be likely to recruit graduate veterinarians, acknowledging that extramural WIL can be a path to future employment. 
  • Clearly outline the expectations for the placement, including how students should be assessed and core competencies that should be achieved by the student during extramural WIL recognising that some clinicians may not have the appropriate training to properly assess competencies, or have conversations around ‘not yet competent’.  
  • Provide clear guidelines for student attendance (including normal working hours), extramural WIL structure and duration. 
  • Provide students with orientation prior to extramural WIL that outlines considerations around safety, ethics, and professionalism, e.g., “EMS driving licence” developed in the UK (Bell et al., 2010). This should include adequate training on personal biosecurity, PPE requirements and infection control appropriate to extramural WIL. 
  • Support students to identify options for accommodation outside of their place of residence. 
  • Provide guidance on suitable duties to be undertaken during extramural WIL, in line with existing legislation and student’s stage of learning to ensure appropriate exposure and priorities for learning. 

Provide details of existing insurance arrangements for students undertaking extramural WIL under the Higher Education Framework and relevant veterinary accreditation body accreditation standards,  while ensuring both student and hosting workplaces are clearly informed of the university provided coverage (AVBC, 2024; TEQSA, n.d.). 

  • Students must not commence a clinical placement until they have completed mandatory pre-placement training in workplace safety and species-appropriate animal handling for the primary species reasonably expected to be encountered on that placement. Recognising that students enter placements with varying levels of competence and confidence, placement activities must be scoped to the student’s demonstrated capability, with supervision and task allocation adjusted to risk to ensure student safety and animal welfare. This requirement is particularly critical for large animals, but applies equally to any animal that is fearful, distressed, painful, or otherwise high-risk to handle. 
  • Support students who require special assistance to obtain appropriate accessibility plans. 
  • Provide a university point of contact for all students engaging in extramural WIL and inform students who feel unsafe during their placement (physical risks, psychological well-being, ethical issues or professional conduct) they may opt out of a specific activity or placement at any time.  
  • Provide avenues for student feedback, workplace and university evaluation to ensure mutually beneficial outcomes for both students and workplaces and to assist with future student extramural WIL. 
  • Provide avenues for the workplace to provide practical feedback to the students and a specific university point of contact to enhance communication between workplace and university. 
  • Provide support and resources to veterinarians participating in extramural WIL, including:   
  • Educational materials and training resources, including training in mentorship, supervision, evaluation and assessment (Field et al., 2008).  
  • Opportunities for professional development and recognition. 

The Government should: 

  • Provide financial support or co-funding options to veterinary students and for their costs to attend extramural WIL, including travel and accommodation. This should be in line with the support provided to medical, nursing, midwifery teaching and social work students (Australian Government Department of Health, 2025; Australian Medical Student Association, 2024; Department of Education, 2025). 
  • Formally recognise the voluntary participation of veterinary workplaces by providing tangible benefits such as accreditation credits, tax recognition or CPD allowances. 
  • Provide funding for the collection of post-placement employment data to inform workforce planning and alignment of extramural WIL especially in rural and remote areas. 
  • Provide funding for regional teaching hubs to expand accessibility in regional areas that face hardships due to workforce shortages in veterinary provision, improve national biosecurity and animal welfare nationally.

Other relevant policies and position statements 

References 

AHPRA. (2021). Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency—Supervision guidelines. Supervision Guidelines. https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Resources/Supervised-practice/Supervision-guidelines.aspx 

Australian Government Department of Health, D. and A. (2025, June 6). Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) program [Text]. Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/rhmt 

Australian Medical Student Association. (2024). Funding-of-Medical-Programs-2024. https://amsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Funding-of-Medical-Programs-2024.pdf 

AVBC. (2024). AVBC-Accreditation-Standards-2024-V1.3. https://avbc.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AVBC-Accreditation-Standards-2024-V1.3.pdf 

Bell, C., Baillie, S., Kinnison, T., & Cavers, A. (2010). Preparing veterinary students for extramural clinical placement training: Issues identified and a possible solution. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 37(2), 190–197. https://doi.org/10.3138/jvme.37.2.190 

Cashman, D., & Rackard, S. (2023). Learning through clinical extramural studies: An observational study. Irish Veterinary Journal, 76, 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13620-023-00238-9 

Department of Education. (2025, December 19). Commonwealth Prac Payment [Text]. Department of Education; address=50 Marcus Clarke St, Canberra City, ACT 2601; contact=+61 1300 566 046. https://www.education.gov.au/commonwealth-prac-payment-cpp 

Department of Health. (2024). WA Country Health Service—Financial assistance. https://www.wacountry.health.wa.gov.au/Our-workforce/Students/Financial-assistance 

Field, M., Broadley, S., Carmichael, A., Carver, P., Crotty, B., Hill, K., Meumann, F., Mitchell, R., Prideaux, D., & Wilson, J. (2008). Clinical placements in undergraduate medical education: Applying AMC standards to the assessment of clinical teaching placements (p. 21) [Assessment of Clinical Teaching Placements]. Australian Medical Council. https://www.amc.org.au/images/Medschool%20reports/AMC-Policy-Paper-Clinical-Placements.pdf 

Routh, J., Paramasivam, S. J., Cockcroft, P., Wood, S., Remnant, J., Westermann, C., Reid, A., Pawson, P., Warman, S., & Nadarajah, V. D. (2023). Clinical supervisors’ and students’ perspectives on preparedness for veterinary workplace clinical training: An international study. Veterinary Record, 193(10), no-no. 

Scholz, E., Trede, F., & Raidal, S. L. (2013). Workplace learning in veterinary education: A sociocultural perspective. Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 40(4), 355–362. 

TEQSA. (n.d.). TEQSA | Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. Retrieved February 27, 2026, from https://www.teqsa.gov.au/