Undergraduate · Agriculture
Bachelor of Veterinary Biology/Bachelor of Veterinary Science
Charles Sturt University, Multi-campus, regional NSW, Australia
About this program
When CSU opened this course in 2005 it was the first new veterinary school established in Australia in several decades, built specifically around training vets for rural and mixed-animal practice rather than the small-animal urban model that dominates elsewhere. The six-year double degree (Veterinary Biology feeding into Veterinary Science) is taught entirely at the Wagga Wagga campus, and students work with the university's own farm animals as well as companion animals from first year onward rather than being confined to lecture theatres until clinical years.
The course covers diagnosis and management of disease across cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and fish alongside horses, dogs and cats, a genuinely broad species range that mirrors what a rural mixed-practice vet actually deals with. It's accredited for registration not just in Australia but in New Zealand, the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. Entry is highly competitive and typically requires a strong ATAR plus additional selection criteria (interview, personal statement, sometimes a CASPer-style test), and most students who get in are drawn specifically by the rural/production-animal focus rather than choosing CSU as a fallback from city vet schools.
Cost & duration
English test scores
Course structure
3 terms of coursework
- Years 1–2 (Veterinary Biology component): Animal Anatomy and Physiology
- Animal Genetics
- Chemistry for Veterinary Science
- Animal Nutrition
- Animal Behaviour
- Years 3–4: Veterinary Pathology
- Pharmacology
- Ruminant and Equine Medicine
- Veterinary Reproduction
- clinical skills training
- Years 5–6 (Veterinary Science component): Clinical rotations across farm animal, equine and small animal medicine and surgery
- Veterinary Public Health
- supervised placements at teaching and partner clinics
- final clinical practicum
Admissions
Year 12 completion, ATAR approx 90 or equivalent