The WikiVet project is part of the WikiVet Educational Foundation (registered charity number 1160546) which was established in February 2015 by the founding partners. A commercial trading company has also been established to provide an opportunity for the charity to trade to support its core educational activities.
WikiVet was established in 2007 to provide online access to a comprehensive veterinary curriculum. The consortium was initially formed by three UK veterinary schools (RVC, Edinburgh and Cambridge) but has grown to include over 10 additional associated academic institutions as well as forming a close association with parts of the commercial veterinary sector.
WikiVet now has a registered user base of over 50,000 members (a growth of over 1,000/month) of whom about 60% are veterinary students from over 90 countries around the world. The site recorded over 2 million individual visits in the academic year 2014-15 (a 100% increase on the previous year).
The organisation now has student ambassador scheme in veterinary schools around the world. These ambassadors have a key role in promoting educational resources and initiatives to colleagues. The charity works closely with the International Veterinary Students Association to identify suitable representatives in each vet school.
The site provides an extensive knowledge base of online resources which has been developed based on feedback from veterinary educators and focus groups of learners. The site now has over 5,000 pages of detailed content making it the largest online veterinary educational resource.
WikiVet is now collaborating closely with a number of commercial partners to develop new content sections of the site. This includes Mars Petcare who have sponsored the development of extensive sections on small animal dentistry and nutrition and Ceva Animal Health who have supported sections on Feline Behaviour.
Recently WikiVet has signed an agreement with Vetstream which will provide preferential access to students accessing Vetstream content through the WikiVet site. This significant development has greatly enhanced the content on offer to students whilst also providing mutually beneficial opportunities for both organisations.