About the College
History of the College
College of Veterinary Medicine is one of the traditional superior colleges of Northwest A&F University. Its predecessor can be traced back to the Teaching and Research Group of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary of National Northwest A&F College established in 1936. The Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary was established in 1958. In 1984, it was divided into two Departments: Department of Animal Husbandry and Department of Veterinary. In 1998, the two departments merged into the College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, and the name was changed to the College of Animal Science and Technology in 2002, while separated into the College of Animal Science and the College of Veterinary Medicine in September 2007 again. The college of Veterinary Medicine was separated from the College of Animal Science and Technology in September 2007.
Undergraduate students were recruited in 1936, while graduate students were recruited in 1963. A multi-level education system with undergraduate education as the main body and graduate education as the development direction has been established after 80 years of development.
Discipline Composition
There are three departments within the college: Basic Veterinary Medicine, including Biomedical Sciences, Veterinary Pathology, Veterinary Physiology, Veterinary Anatomy, Veterinary Pharmacology; Preventive Veterinary Medicine, including Veterinary Microbiology, Veterinary Immunology, Veterinary Parasitology, Public Health of Veterinary; and Clinical Veterinary Medicine, including Veterinary Theriogenology, Veterinary Internal Medicine, Veterinary Surgery Medicine, Veterinary Diagnostic Medicine, Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine. Veterinary Medicine (five years) is the major for undergraduate students for a long time, which is a famous specialty in Shaanxi Province. Another undergraduate major -- Veterinary Pharmacy (four-year) was set up in 2020. There are 7 doctorate and master degrees: including Clinical Veterinary Medicine(national key discipline), Basic Veterinary Medicine, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, Animal Biotechnology, Developmental Biology, Neurobiology and Physiology.
Research Platforms
The college now has Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, State Key Laboratory of Livestock Biology (Breeding), Key Laboratory of Major Ruminant Disease Control and Prevention of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (West China), Engineering Research Center of Higher Education institutions of Shaanxi Province, National Animal Science Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, Virtual Simulation Experiment Teaching Center of College of Veterinary Medicine in Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi Scientific Observation and Experiment Station of Veterinary Medicine and Diagnostic Technology of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Shaanxi Branch of National Stem Cell Engineering Research Center, Shaanxi Stem Cell Engineering Technology Research Center, Shaanxi Embryo Engineering Technology Research Center, Institute of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine of Northwest A&F University, Shaanxi International Science and Technology Cooperation Base (International Cooperation Base for Research on Veterinary Biological Products and New Veterinary Drugs). It is the chairman unit of Veterinary Obstetrics Branch and Veterinary Toxicology Branch of Chinese Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine.
Veterinary Science Research
With a long history of scientific research, the college has developed distinctive advantages in the fields of embryo engineering and disease resistance bioengineering of cattle and sheep, animal stem cells and tissue engineering, reproductive endocrinology and reproductive barriers of livestock, prevention and control of grassland poisonous grass and toxic diseases, prevention and control of major livestock and poultry diseases, etc. Disease-resistant biological engineering lies in the world's leading, cattle and sheep embryo engineering is in the world's leading, grassland and toxic disease prevention and control is first class in China. The animal embryo engineering expert Academician Yong Zhang conquered the goat somatic cell cloning technology, the first somatic cell cloned goats in the world, animal somatic cell cloning technology combined with gene editing technique to create the world's first beta turn defense engineered cows and Ipr-1 gene anti-tb cow, won the second prize of national science and technology innovation in 2016. It is internationally recognized as two important breakthroughs in the field of livestock gene editing and disease resistance bioengineering, and has been highly praised by Niemann, an academician of the German Academy of Sciences and PNAS and BioMed publishing House. Significant progress was made in the study of major diseases such as blue ear disease and classical swine fever. Both Academician Zhang Yong and Professor Zhou Enmin were selected as highly cited Scholars of Elsevier Global Veterinary Medicine.
Aiming at the national strategy and international frontier of veterinary science, we carry out basic and applied research oriented to agricultural production practice centering on the major needs of animal disease prevention and control, human health and food safety. At present, the school undertakes 197 scientific research projects, including 1 major transgenic special project and 1 sub-project; Three sub-projects of the National Key Research and Development Program and one young Scientist Project; 1 original Exploration Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China, 60 other projects; The total research fee is 106 million yuan. It has won 1 Second Prize of National Technological Invention, 2 first prizes of Science and Technology Progress of Shaanxi Province, and 3 second prizes of Science and Technology Progress of Shaanxi Province. In the past five years, we have obtained 62 national authorized invention patents and published 882 academic papers, including 585 SCI papers.
International Exchange and Cooperation
We adhering the concept of Openness and Inclusiveness to carry out international cooperation in teaching and researching areas, and has established close relationship with lots of universities from North America, Europe and Asia, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions of China. First of all, a series of international cooperative scientific research and talent training platforms have been set up, including the Discipline Innovation and Talent Introduction Program in Colleges and Universities, the International Research Cooperation Base of Veterinary Biological Products and New Veterinary Drugs of Shaanxi Province. Second, in terms of undergraduate teaching, our school is the membership of the US-China joint DVM Program. We also cooperate with the University of Edinburgh for "2+4" program, in which students of the second year can apply for another four-year study in the University of Edinburgh, and will gain bachelor’s degree from both universities. As to the graduate teaching, graduate students for professional master degree would have the opportunity to rotate in the veterinary teaching hospitals in Iowa State University, Oklahoma State University and the University of Zagreb for one year through the Program supported by the China Scholarship Council.
In the past five years, there are 47 scholars from University of Maryland, University of California at Davis, Iowa State University, University of Guelph, University of Edinburgh, Kyoto University, Kyushu University and other overseas universities work in the College of Veterinary Medicine which has promoted the cultivation of international talents of our students.
In addition, we also provide veterinary acupuncture and moxibustion training for oversea students and veterinarians to help animal who suffered from diseases that could not be treated by western medicine. Since 2014, veterinary acupuncture training and lectures were provided to faculty and students from Iowa State University in 2014 and 2016, respectively, and acupuncture training was provided to faculty and students of Oklahoma State University in 2019.
In the past five years, 51 undergraduate and graduate students have gone abroad and studied in famous universities and institutions for further study. In the world First-class Discipline ranking (Veterinary Medicine) in 2021, the College of Veterinary Medicine was ranked 3rd in China and 19th in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Mission
We aim to cultivate excellence veterinary talent in the new era based on the national strategy and the forefront of international veterinary medicine in prevention and control of major animal diseases, human health and food safety requirements. We also try to make the veterinary medicine become first-class discipline, to increase our influence and academic status at home and abroad.