Current approaches to veterinary school accreditation in Latin America.

This paper describes the development of veterinary school accreditation in Mexico and six South American countries. There is wide variation in the organisation of accreditation systems between countries, with different levels of involvement of national veterinary associations on the definition and/or operation of accreditation processes. There is also variation in the specificity of the standards used to evaluate veterinary education. In addition, the extent of implementation of accreditation mechanisms ranges from a country such as Mexico, where the first accreditation of a veterinary programme occurred more than ten years ago (there are now 15 accredited programmes), to countries such as Peru and Bolivia, which have not yet implemented an accreditation process for veterinary schools.