I believe there are serious flaws to this proposal.  There are no controls on what a first, second, or third year vet student can do. It’s totally up to the supervising veterinarian. I have worked at a hospital and seen many competent physicians who were not qualitifed to teach. I don't see anything about this that demands that veterinarians in private practice show competency as teachers. I am concerned that pet owners will have no notification or consent on whether a pet should be treated by an unlicensed vet.  Many times I prefer to take my vet to a private vet instead of a vet school and pay the higher costs associated with this.  

I see that Virginia Tech is enthusiastically promoting this.  I believe there is a reason Virginia Tech is not a highly rated vet school and rather than improve their program so that students are well prepared for an internship in their fourth year they propose this solution. There is no indication that the vet school has any responsibility for assuring that the work experience is in fact educational, and not cheap or free labor. If we’re realistic, we recognize that practicing veterinarians cover the entire spectrum of clinical competence, from barely adequate to superb, and their ethics cover the same range. We also know that not every highly qualified professional is able to teach effectively.

I have had my pets at the NC State Vet School and the performance standards between that nationaly ranked #3 vet school and Virginia Tech #17 are glaringly obvious.  I don't believe that they can improve their program in this matter and it will insure that many of us on the borders of VA will prefer to take our pets to out of state veterinarians rather than end up having unlicensed people treating our pets.