New Zealand Diploma in Veterinary Nursing (Level 6)

Courses 

Year one courses 

You will complete eight, Level 5, 15-credit courses in your first year. All year one courses must be completed and passed to enter year two. 

Year two courses 

You will complete four, Level 6, 15-credit courses in your second year, and two, Level 6, 30-credit courses. 

Work placement information

Before commencing any work placement, you will need to complete the Passport to Safety module which covers basic health and safety, hazards in the animal/veterinary facility and expectations of professional behaviour in the placement. You will be introduced to this module in the first week of the programme or before.

Planning work placement in your first year

This information is about work placements during your first year. We'll give you the information about your second year placements when you're studying with us.

Full-time students

Full-time students need to do a minimum of 205 vet clinic placement hours and a minimum of 45 animal facility hours in the first year. Due to lack of availability of vet clinic placements in many areas, you are strongly encouraged to start your vet clinic hours early (end Feb-March) and continue regular placement throughout the year. Do not wait until mid-year to start clinic placement as you may find that placements are not available.

For full time students, you should confirm a vet clinic placement before the February start date. If you have not got a clinic placement by the start date you must let us know. We don’t want you to be in a position where you have enrolled and paid for the programme and cannot complete it.

Part-time students 

Part-time students require a minimum of 80 vet clinic placement hours in the first year, and a minimum of 45 animal facility hours.

Part-time students have slightly longer to find vet clinic placement, as only 80 hours are required in the first year. Part time students should aim to confirm their 20 or more hours of vet clinic placement by the end of June at the latest.

All students 

You may complete the required hours in more than one clinic or animal facility.

Work placement can be completed in blocks, but for full-time students a one day per week placement is preferable.

It’s important to know that veterinary clinics start early and can finish late. If you have children, you may need to consider planning childcare or school runs, as you will be expected to do full days when you are on work placement.

Dunedin-based students 

Veterinary clinic placements in the wider Dunedin area are severely limited so you must be willing to travel outside of Dunedin (including Balclutha and Mosgiel) to complete the required placement. Please don't approach Dunedin clinics yourself. Our work placement co-ordinator manages all placements for the Dunedin clinics.

If you cannot go outside of Dunedin due to family or other commitments, please contact us as soon as possible to chat about this. You may qualify for one of the few Dunedin-based placements that are available.

Please note: This is decided according to need and can only be guaranteed for the first year.

Suitable facilities

• The focus of this programme is small animals, i.e. cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, rats and mice.
• Suitable animal facilities may include the SPCA, boarding kennels and catteries, small animal petting zoos, and doggy day care.
• It must be set up as a commercial facility, not a home-based enterprise.
• If you are unsure whether the facility meets the criteria please check with us first. Equine or rural facilities are not suitable.
• All veterinary clinic placements must be focused on companion animals as above. You may complete your work placement in a clinic which deals with both rural and companion animals if you are working with the companion animals. Rural and equine clinics are not suitable.

Practicum details 

How you will learn 

We have a very good reputation for the support we provide to students studying off campus and have offered distance learning for a long time. 

Your tutors will guide you through your learning with weekly updates about where you should be up to, schedules for study and assessment due dates, and online classes. They will monitor your weekly progress through the online resources.

You are expected to study regularly and keep up with your study timetable but can set your own study routine to suit you. Full-time students are expected to attend a weekly scheduled online meeting unless you are on work placement. 

All assessments have due dates which are available at the start of the year. If you cannot meet an assessment due date for a valid reason such as illness or bereavement, you'll be able to let us know and we can provide an extension. We may require evidence such as a medical certificate.

As well as our supportive tutors, we also have an excellent Student Support team who are here to help you every step of the way. 

The veterinary industry is rewarding but can be physically and emotionally demanding at times. You need to be physically and mentally well yourself to ensure you can deal with the ups and downs of the clinic environment. If you want to chat about this before you apply, please get in touch with us.