The African connection: development of medical and veterinary schools

Helping alleviate Africa's health has been a task for Glasgow graduates for over a century. It is still an issue being tackled by staff and students at the University of Glasgow today.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, staff from the Veterinary School visiting East Africa as independence approached, recognised that there were virtually no qualified African veterinary surgeons to support the vast livestock infrastructure there. The neglect of training during the colonial period needed urgent attention. It was proposed to run a full year's intensive crash course, in conjunction with the University of East Africa, Nairobi, to upgrade the skills of a group of African students to standards in veterinary medicine and surgery that would be equivalent to the best in the world.

 The course was the most imaginative one of its kind at the time and subsequently acted as a blueprint for the now world-class Glasgow Vet School course. One year later, in 1964, some 40 Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian veterinary diplomats from Makerere University, Uganda, graduated as fully fledged Veterinary Surgeons from the University of East Africa.

These graduates subsequently came to occupy the most senior veterinary positions throughout Africa. The establishment of world class animal research institutes in Kenya (The International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases) and in the Gambia (The International Trypanotolerance Centre) was very much the concept of senior staff of Glasgow Vet School working with their African colleagues.

Within a year, the Glasgow Medical Faculty had helped to establish the Medical School at Makerere University College.  Glasgow University staff were also seconded to the Medical School until there were sufficient qualified staff to take over the teaching and service commitments.  Initially nine members of Glasgow University staff - physicians, surgeons and pathologists - began teaching at the school.  The total number of people from Glasgow directly connected to this venture school amounted to about 100.  Glasgow University went on to support the founding of a second Medical School in Nairobi. 

The efforts by Glasgow University were officially described at the time as ‘the biggest effort so far ever made by a British university’.  Bio-scientists from Glasgow have built on this early initiative with outstanding contributions to research in tropical disease, and to undergraduate and postgraduate training.