AVE Candidate Hub
Welcome to the Australian Veterinary Association's (AVA) dedicated Australasian Veterinary Exam (AVE) candidate hub!
Here you can find out how the AVA can support you via membership of the Australian Veterinary Student Group (AVSG), and help you find a placement to gain practical clinical experience in an Australian veterinary clinic.
Support available for AVE candidates
Completing the AVE is a requirement for registration to work as a veterinarian in Australia. While you complete your registration, the AVA invites you to join the AVSG so that you can access a range of resources, including:
- Access to resources in our AVA library;
- Free registration to our Return to Work program;
- Access to Professional Indemnity & Public Liability Insurance Coverage through Guild Insurance*;
- Reduced fees to join one of our 18 other Special Interest Groups (SIGs);
- Access to employers offering additional clinical experience to AVE candidates who have passed the Preliminary (MCQ) Examination;
- Access to the AVSG Facebook group.
*Without appropriate insurance cover it can be difficult for AVE candidates to obtain a clinical placement for work experience. AVE candidates who join the AVSG can obtain a Certificate of Cover for Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance for free. Please note that this insurance will not cover you if you are in a paid position in a practice.
How to join the AVSG
If you would like to take advantage of the support and benefits that AVSG membership provides, please click here to complete the application form. If you have further inquiries in relation to the AVSG and its resources, please contact Dr Ragaei (Reggie) Shenouda, Executive Officer of the Australian Veterinary Student Group at reggie.shenouda@ava.com.au
Work experience placement EOI for AVE candidates
Australasian Veterinary Exam (AVE) candidates who have passed the Preliminary (MCQ) Examination are encouraged by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council Inc (AVBC) to gain practical experience at private veterinary practices to assist with their preparations for the Final (Clinical) Examination. They are also encouraged to take the appropriate steps to gain some form of limited, specific or conditional registration with the Veterinary Surgeons Board in the State or Territory in which they wish to gain work experience.
To assist AVE candidates to gain work experience and enable veterinary clinics to gain access to available AVE candidates, the AVA maintains a database that can link the two groups. To have your details included in a list of AVE candidates available for work experience within Australia, register your details below. Please note that AVE candidates must first join the AVSG to be eligible to register.
If you are a veterinary clinic looking to host an AVE candidate, please complete an expression of interest here.
Who can apply?
All AVE students who have joined the AVA's AVSG, successfully passed the Preliminary (MCQ) Examination and have received either limited, specific or conditional registration with the relevant State Veterinary Surgeons Board can apply.
What is the process and what happens after I submit my details?
- Join the AVA as a AVSG member and request insurance cover certificates.
- Once insurance certificates are received, complete the expression of interest form below, noting that all fields are mandatory.
- By submitting the form, you understand that the information you provide us will be included in a list of available AVE students and will be provided to clinics seeking to take on AVE students for voluntary work experience.
- Clinics will then contact you directly to discuss placements available.
- Please advise AVA Member Services (members@ava.com.au) when you are no longer available for work experience.
Who can I contact for more information?
Please contact AVA Member Services: members@ava.com.au or 1300 137 309.