Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences (JCC): The Academic Side — Hong Kong's Only Veterinary School

Module: 01 Academics · Sub-file: Veterinary School Academic Profile
In October 2023, eleven young people registered as practising veterinary surgeons in Hong Kong — the first cohort in the city's history to be trained entirely at a local university. The Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences (JCC) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is the only veterinary school in Hong Kong. In partnership with Cornell University, it offers the territory's sole six-year Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (BVM). This article covers the academic side — history, curriculum, accreditation, departments, and research centres. For clinical operations, the teaching hospital, and diagnostic services, see docs/11. For a college overview, see colleges-and-schools.md.

# 1. Origins and Naming

A note on the timeline: it is common to summarise the College’s genesis as a "2017 partnership with Cornell," but the actual sequence was: founding in 2014 → first research centre in 2016 → first BVM intake in 2017 → Jockey Club naming donation in 2018. We have reconstructed the chronology from the official naming ceremony announcement and the research centres' own websites.

# 2. Partnership with Cornell University

The BVM was co-developed with Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, drawing on Cornell's Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) programme as a blueprint (BVM programme overview^※). Cornell's veterinary school regularly ranks among the world's top institutions in the QS subject rankings.

# 3. The Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (BVM)

# Dual International Accreditation (AVBC + RCVS)

The BVM is accredited by both the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC, approval on 21 September 2023)^※ and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). CityU states the programme is the first veterinary undergraduate degree in Asia to receive dual accreditation from these two major regulatory bodies^※. According to the AVBC, JCC is the first new veterinary school outside Australasia to be guided through the accreditation process^※. Graduates are recognised as having the internationally benchmarked "Day One Competences."

# 4. Departments and Research Centres

# Two Departments

# Two Interdisciplinary Research Centres

Alongside the two departments, JCC houses two interdisciplinary research platforms, corresponding to the public-health and animal-welfare dimensions of the 'One Health' concept:

• Centre for Applied One Health Research and Policy Advice (OHRP): Established in October 2016^※, its mission is 「生成能推動地方、國家、區域及國際層面循證政策」 (to generate scientific knowledge that can drive evidence-based policies at local, national, regional and international levels), with a focus on animal production, welfare, and health, and infectious disease prevention and control. According to the Centre's public materials, representative projects include the One Health Poultry Hub, research on reducing antibiotic use in aquaculture using nanobubble technology, a cross-border risk assessment of African swine fever in Southeast Asia, and itinerant veterinary services aimed at improving the health of pigs, poultry, and fish. Its long-term goal is to become 「獲國際認可的同一健康研究與政策倡導全球卓越中心」 (an internationally recognised global centre of excellence for One Health research and policy advice).
• Centre for Animal Health and Welfare (CAHW): Founded in 2020, according to publicly available information, it is one of CityU's "Applied Strategic Development Centres" and is also described as the first centre of its kind in Asia^※. The centre supports high-quality, non-invasive animal welfare research and aims to deliver evidence-based solutions for the various challenges animals face in contemporary society.

Together with the two departments, these centres form JCC's tripartite academic framework of clinical teaching, public health, and animal welfare.

# Life Sciences and Postgraduate Programmes

Beyond the BVM, JCC offers postgraduate programmes including a Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Veterinary Medicine (MVM), PhD in Infectious Diseases and Public Health, PhD in Veterinary Clinical Sciences, and an interdisciplinary Doctor of Veterinary Medicine^※. This reflects the college’s dual-track positioning in "veterinary medicine + life sciences," anchored in the One Health concept.

# 5. Why CityU Launched a Veterinary School

Creating a veterinary school was not an ornamental expansion for CityU. It targeted a genuine structural gap in Hong Kong's higher education:

• Hong Kong previously had no local veterinary training. Before JCC, Hong Kong students aspiring to become vets had to study overseas, mainly in the UK or Australia, and local practitioners almost all returned with foreign degrees. CityU has filled that void, making it possible for the first time to study and qualify as a vet entirely within Hong Kong.
• It fits CityU's "capture the niche" strategy. As a relatively young and smaller institution, CityU cannot easily compete head-to-head with older, comprehensive universities. It therefore seeks to build unassailable positions in areas where no one else is playing — the only veterinary school in the city is the ultimate expression of that logic (a similar pattern can be seen in the School of Creative Media for digital media, and the School of Law for the PCLL).
• The One Health moment. Emerging infectious diseases, zoonoses, and food safety have given the "One Health" framework — linking animals, humans, and ecosystems — increasing global urgency. CityU’s combination of veterinary medicine, public health, and life sciences is both academically forward-looking and practically relevant. The establishment of OHRP (2016) and CAHW (2020) institutionalised that vision step by step.

# 6. Milestone: Hong Kong's First Homegrown Vets (2023)

JCC's entire pipeline was validated for the first time in 2023: on 28 October 2023, all eleven BVM graduates from the inaugural cohort registered as practising veterinary surgeons in Hong Kong^※, becoming the first locally degree-trained veterinarians in Hong Kong history. These eleven were the product of six years of training, starting from the first intake in 2017, and they represented the first end-to-end verification of CityU’s veterinary education chain — curriculum design, clinical rotations, international accreditation, and professional registration (see docs/11 biomedical-and-health-sciences.md).

The triple combination — "only veterinary school in Hong Kong", "Asia's first dual-accredited BVM", and "first cohort of homegrown vets" — turned JCC, in just a few years, from an ambitious idea into a concrete milestone in the development of the veterinary profession in Hong Kong.

# 7. A Note on Fees

Prospective applicants should be aware: non-local student fees for the BVM are substantially higher than for most other programmes. According to CityU’s Admissions Office, the annual fee for non-local BVM entrants in 2025 is approximately HK$350,000; for 2026 entry it is around HK$392,000 per year^※. Given the six-year duration, the total cost is considerable. This reflects the high-cost structure inherent in veterinary education: teaching-hospital-grade facilities (see docs/11), low student–staff ratios, and the requirements of international accreditation. For details on fee policies and planning, see 02-admissions/tuition-and-scholarships.md.