Armando Hoet joins WOAH group revising day-one vet competencies: full analysis

Version 2 — Full analysis

Armando Hoet has been named the American representative to a WOAH ad hoc expert group that will rewrite one of the most influential global reference points in veterinary education: the competencies expected of day-one veterinary graduates and the core curriculum that supports them. Ohio State said Hoet is one of just five experts selected worldwide, underscoring how small and targeted the group is. (vet.osu.edu)

The assignment comes as WOAH revisits guidance that dates back more than a decade. According to WOAH’s terms of reference, the organization’s first global conference on veterinary education in 2009 led to the original Day 1 Competencies and Core Curriculum recommendations, published in 2012 and 2013 after gaps were identified through its Performance of Veterinary Services pathway. WOAH says those guidelines have been widely adopted, but now need revision to keep pace with advances in science, education, and veterinary service delivery. (woah.org)

This is not a narrow editing exercise. WOAH says the group will review existing competency frameworks, accreditation approaches, and curriculum-alignment efforts, identify gaps and emerging competencies, and build an integrated framework that includes both terrestrial and aquatic animal health. The terms of reference also point to issues that weren’t central in older curriculum models, including gender and disability inclusion, wellbeing and resilience, ethics, leadership, mental health awareness, digital transformation, transparency, animal welfare, and sustainability. (woah.org)

Hoet’s background appears aligned with that brief. Ohio State highlighted his role in veterinary preventive medicine and public health, and WOAH’s expert-group criteria specifically sought expertise spanning veterinary education, continuing education, public health, One Health, private practice, public sector work, and regulatory systems. That broader lens matters because WOAH’s education standards are intended to support veterinary services across diverse national systems, not just academic institutions. (vet.osu.edu)

The wider education landscape is already moving in a similar direction. The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges’ competency-based veterinary education model emphasizes outcomes-based, learner-centered training, with competencies, milestones, and entrustable professional activities designed to connect classroom learning to workplace performance. Recent AAVMC materials say the model has continued to evolve through 2026, while a 2024 Journal of Veterinary Medical Education paper argued that One Health and veterinary public health competencies need deeper integration into day-one expectations. (aavmc.org)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the significance is practical. Global “day one” standards influence curriculum design, graduate expectations, and in some settings, regulatory and accreditation conversations. If WOAH’s revised framework places more weight on public health, antimicrobial resistance, communication, wellbeing, or systems thinking, that can eventually affect how new veterinarians are taught, assessed, and onboarded into practice. For clinicians and practice leaders, it may also help narrow the long-running gap between academic preparation and the realities of first-year work. (woah.org)

There’s also an international workforce angle. WOAH says the revised guidance is meant to support greater comparability of veterinary qualifications across countries while preserving flexibility for local context. That balance, minimum adequacy without prescriptive uniformity, is especially important as veterinary workforce shortages, public health threats, and cross-border disease risks keep pressure on training systems to produce graduates who are both locally useful and globally legible. That’s an inference from WOAH’s stated goals and the role its standards play in veterinary workforce development. (woah.org)

What to watch: WOAH says the group will produce a revised draft, gather stakeholder feedback, pilot and validate the guideline, and ultimately submit final recommendations to the director general. The key next signal for veterinary schools, regulators, and employers will be when consultation drafts emerge and which new competencies make the cut. (woah.org)