The Master
in “Animal Health and Production” (MAHP):

at the University of Luxemburg

In collaboration with the OIE
and the University of Luxembourg

    

The Master in animal Health and Poultry Production (MAHPP) at the University of Luxemburg is a professional post-graduate diploma for veterinarians graduated from a recognized Veterinary Faculty or School. It conforms to the international definition *******.

This type of Master is a University diploma. It recognizes that a veterinarian has acquired a level of competence in a specific professional discipline. It is not a specialist diploma or an authorization to practice some veterinary activities that remain under the respective national authorities.

However this official supranational recognition of competence has a high value for the students who, “de facto”, have the status of international experts.

The objectives of the program

 

  • To acquire competence in the promotion of health as well as in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases of production animals, at a level that adequately serves the needs of the consumers and the agri-food industry, with modern high-quality veterinary care.
  • Facililtate the access to the European and American specialist boards that recognize their own specialists.
  • To train participants in problem solving skills, as well as increasing their theoretical and practical knowledge. Therefore, the teaching is practice oriented, using state of the art educational techniques offered by our experienced WVEPAH faculty, who are recruited among the recognized specialists in the World.
  • To train participants in critical information retrieval and literature search as well as scientific writing.
  • To lay a foundation for continuous life-long professional development in the chosen discipline.

The program

2.1. Accessible while working in practice

The programme allows the candidates to study while practicing. This means that the formal instruction is part-time in the form of courses taken at intervals during the programme. It is expected that students gradually apply the skills they acquired in the formal part of their education to their daily work in practice. Therefore, in addition to the course work, students are assigned specific tasks to be completed at home, for which they also obtain credits. Thus, the Master’s Programme in Animal Health is based on accumulating a defined number of European Credit Transfer System * (ECTS) in (1) course work, (2) production of individual written work and (3) accumulation of experience by applying what is learned to daily practice.

2.2. Modular structure

According to the rules of the University of Luxemburg all post-graduate education is organized in modules. In order to obtain the degree, a passing grade has to be reached for each module. It is mandatory that students entering the Master program have successfully completed the Certificate in animal health and production/poultry (CAHPP) consisting of the modules: “CAHPP coursework” and “CAHPP written work”. Thus, the complete Master study program includes:

  • Modules I and II: residential course work including Certificate in Animal Health: Poultry Production (CAHPP) course work and successful exam. The Master program requires a second residential specialised course and it’s mandatory 25 clinical cases.
  • Module III distance and e-learning between courses (including the e-learning from CAHPP)
  • Modules IV: written documentation of field work, case reports and case log (clinical cases) can be compiled in the same period as the course work is done (including material collected in CAHPP)
  • Module V: practical work and experience at home
  • Module VI: The Master Thesis

2.3. Requirement to obtain the MAHPP

  • Graduated with the CAHPP
  • A successful second specialised module (including 25 clinical cases)
  • Active participation in distance learning
  • Non-research thesis

2.4. The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)

All work done by the students is expressed in ECTS credits. 1 ECTS credit is equivalent to 25-30 hours of student work. In the ECTS it is generally accepted that each hour of formal course work (lectures, practicals, tutorials etc.) generates an additional 2-3 hours of work for the student including preparation for lectures, practicals, tutorials etc., post-lecture review, additional reading and literature searches and preparation for and writing the examination. A one week course (40 hours of instruction) generates a total of 120-160 hours of student’s work. With one ECTS equivalent to 25-30 hours of students work, one week course is assigned 5 ECTS, regardless of the subject since all courses are of the same standard. It is important to note that credits are only given for work that has been validated by some form of examination. The Master program comprises a total of 120 ECTS, of which 40 ECTS have been collected in the CAHPP program (Master students have to have completed the CAHPP program)

Coursework (Modules I-II-III 40 ECTS)

To meet the requirements of the Master’s in Animal Health and production programme the course work includes a minimum of 40 ECTS.

Residential WVEPAH courses (30 ECTS)

The students are required to accumulate a minimum of 30 ECTS in residential coursework. Coursework means active participation in classroom work, practicals, tutorials self study and writing examinations. The WVEPAH offers discipline oriented programs consisting of a comprehensive series of courses taught by top specialists. WVEPAH courses typically consist of one of a two week of residential training (40 – 80 hours of instruction) Courses are part of discipline oriented programs focusing on one particular subject. Discipline oriented programs (e.g. Pathology, Nutrition, Epidemiology, Biosecurity, Immunology, Vaccinology, Antibio-therapy, Genetic, Animal Welfare etc.) consist of several consecutive courses, each course covering specific topics of the subject.

Minimal course requirements

The candidates can structure their own curriculum within the limits set by the program directors of the disciplines (The respective documents can be obtained at the WVEPAH office). The curriculum has to be approved by the Master’s Program Committee at the latest prior to submitting the written work. Candidates are however advised to plan the course work well in advance and to submit the course plan in the initial stages of the program.

Distance and e-Learning (10 ECTS)

In between courses the students must participate in the distance learning that includes contacts on line with the course masters. To this aim a secret Facebook page has been created which is only accessible to WVEPAH participants and administered by the program director. It is used for case presentations, question-answer sessions and uploading information including literature. It is expected that students have to invest 2 hours per week resulting in a total of 300 hours of student work over three years (one year in the CAHPP + 2 years for the Master) Participation and contributions of each student are monitored. Contributions are evaluated and graded.

External course work

Up to 10 ECTS of course work may be accumulated from instruction taken outside of the University of Luxemburg/WVEPAH courses. Such external courses must be of a similarly high standard and examinable. All such courses with ECTS points assigned must be approved by the Veterinary Post-Graduate Program Committee, those taken outside of the ECTS system may be validated according to article 9, R.G.D???, it is recommended that participants wishing to select such courses should submit a detailed outline to the Committee well before the enrolment as retrospective approval may not be given.

Written documentation of individual field work (Module IV, 30 ECTS)

Applicants submit their individual written work during their enrolment in the program. Applicants fulfilling the course requirements in a retrospective way can submit their written work for grading and validation not earlier than one year following registration. The written individual work consists of the (clinical case reports) consisting in case logs, case reports and the master thesis. In the course of their professional activity, students have to produce a written record of 50 clinical cases from their own field work.

Case logs
Forty four of the fifty cases have to be documented in a condensed fashion. They must reflect the chosen discipline and are expected to be mostly produced in the second half of the program. A written summary of each case is presented in a standardized format including case identification, location and history, results of the examination, laboratory findings, differential diagnosis, final diagnosis and prognosis, therapy and outcome. All raw data relevant to each case must be filed in a digitalized format and must be accessible upon request by the examination board. An example of a case log is shown in Annex ****.

Examination: The candidate is requested to submit his/her cases log to the Master’s Programme Committee. The case log is viewed by 1 member of the Examination Board and graded on a 0-20 scale (<10= fail, 10-12 = sufficient, 12-14 = fair, 14-16 = good, 16-18 = very good, 18-20 = excellent). The module is passed when a grade of at least 10 is obtained. In case of an insufficient grade, the candidate is notified about the shortcomings of the case log and requested to resubmit a revised version or submit additional cases within 6 months of notice.

Case reports (20 ECTS)
Format: 6 of the 50 cases, covering a range of topics in the chosen discipline are selected by the candidate for written in depth case reports. These case reports include a complete presentation of the case, illustrations where necessary, literature review on the subject with references and a discussion. The candidates must demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the topic. Generally, a case report should contain 2000 words +/- 10%, excluding references and appendix. The combined case reports should not exceed a total of 20,000 words. An example of a case report is shown in Annex ****.

Examination: The candidate is requested to submit her/his case reports in duplicate in print or digitized document to the Master’s Programme Committee. Each case report is viewed by 1 member of the Examination Board and graded on a 0-20 scale (<10= fail, 10-12 = sufficient, 12-14 = fair, 14-16 = good, 16-18 = very good, 18-20 = excellent). The grades of the individual case reports are averaged to obtain one single grade. When this average grade is below 10, candidates are requested to resubmit revised versions of the failed case reports.

Practical work and experience (Module V, 20 ECTS)

It is expected that candidates will continuously and progressively apply the skills they have acquired in the Master program in their daily practice at home, in this way supporting and reinforcing the learning process. For this effort, the candidates will be awarded a total of 20 ECTS for the three years they are enrolled in the program. This part of the program is not subjected to an exam.

Master Thesis (Module VI 30 ECTS)

The thesis can consist of either an analytical retrospective or treatment study on a specific problem, or an experimental study relating to the chosen discipline. An in depth literature review on a chosen subject is also acceptable. Students are required to send in a short outline of the planned thesis project, which has to be approved by the examination board. The thesis has to include an introduction with literature review on the subject and description of the objectives of the study, a materials and methods section, a results section, a discussion and a list of references. The total thesis should generally not contain more than 10.000 words. A peer-reviewed publication of original research work with the candidate as a first author and produced during the enrolment in the Master program is accepted as a Master thesis.

Examination: The candidate is requested to submit her/his thesis (dissertation) in duplicate in print or digitized to the Master’s Programme Committee. The thesis is viewed by 2 members of the Examination Board and graded on a 0-20 scale (<10= fail, 10-12 = sufficient, 12-14 = fair, 14-16 = good, 16-18 = very good, 18-20 = excellent). The grades of the 2 reviewers are averaged to obtain one single grade. When this average grade is below 10, candidates are requested to resubmit a revised version of the thesis.