ACOVENE (the Accreditation Committee for Veterinary Nurse Education) is an organisation that accredits veterinary nurse education programmes in the EU. ACOVENE was established as a foundation in 2007 to address the need for a European accreditation system. Each country has its own way of educating veterinary nurses, but the competences of veterinary nurses throughout Europe are broadly comparable.
The purpose of Acovene is to improve and maintain standards in veterinary nurse education via the accreditation and ongoing monitoring of veterinary nurse programmes within Europe.
The RCVS maintains close links with veterinary and veterinary nursing education in the EU and is a member of the ACOVENE accreditation system for programmes of veterinary nursing. This means that all approved programmes of veterinary nursing in the UK are expected to meet the European agreed criteria for qualification delivery and quality assurance, which articulate closely with those of the UK regulatory authorities. These criteria can be found at http://www.acovene.com/.
