What the students say about the Certificate in Animal Welfare

The best way to find out whether a Cambridge e-Learning Institute course is right for you is to talk to one of our past students. This is what some of them told us:

• Antonio di Nardo, who works for the Italian Government’s Veterinary Service and is responsible for livestock disease control in the Abruzzo region, has just completed the CEI Animal Welfare Certificate.

Antonio says: “Animal Welfare regulations are becoming increasingly important to livestock producers across Europe as governments implement EU directives and respond to consumer pressure to improve food quality. However, few veterinary courses properly address animal welfare issues, and those that do involve residential programmes. I was looking for something where I could study part time without disrupting my day job. The CEI course was ideal because I have been able to study at my own pace, concentrating on those areas which are most important to me. And the online tutors have been excellent. I got detailed replies to my questions within a day or so and the online discussion forums are even more helpful. I would certainly recommend a CEI course to any vet wanting to learn about animal welfare.”

Having gained his CEI certificate, Antonio has been promoted to assistant director of his institute.

• Mariângela Souza took the CEI Animal Welfare Certificate while working as veterinary surgeon for a Brazilian animal charity in Rio de Janeiro.

She says: “I am a keen vegetarian and have always been interested in animal welfare. I had been looking for a part time course for a long time and was delighted when a colleague told me about CEI. The online course has provided me with everything I wanted. I really appreciated studying with people from different countries and very diverse cultural backgrounds and learnt a lot from the discussion forums. The international faculty at CEI is also very impressive. We had a residential weekend in Cambridge which gave me the opportunity to meet staff and colleagues. With my certificate, I’ve been able to set up an NGO in Brazil that promotes public awareness of Animal Welfare and I’m now working with the CEI team to deliver joint education programmes around the world.”

• Daniela Lexer is working on a PhD at the University of Vienna. To properly understand some of the issues in her thesis she felt she needed to be better informed about animal welfare. Surprisingly she could not find all the information she needed at her university so she turned to CEI.

  She explains: “I had never considered an online course and was concerned about being separated from my tutors and classmates. However, I needn’t have worried. For me online courses are better than regular residential programmes. You learn at your own pace and can always get support when you need it. I like to study in the evenings and weekends and with this course there are always other people online I can chat to if I need to get a second opinion. Once I complete my thesis, I want to work in animal welfare and may well take the CEI Animal Welfare Diploma.”

• Marcelo Rosa is a lecturer in Animal Husbandry at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. He took the CEI Animal Welfare Diploma because his department plans to set up its own modules in animal ethics. He explains: “A colleague and I were tasked to design a series of new course modules but we didn’t have access to the latest thinking in animal welfare and we felt the best way to get this quickly would be to get a recognized qualification. Since nothing suitable was available locally, we chose an international online programme from CEI. My department was concerned about the cost but I was fortunate in getting a scholarship from UFAW which paid for most of my tuition costs. The CEI course has been very cost effective for us and I shall be recommending it to my students who want to go on to more advanced topics in animal welfare.”

• Goran Knezevic is a biology student in Bosnia Hergzegovina and works for an Animal Welfare Charity. He says: “I needed to learn more about animal welfare for my job but couldn’t afford the time to take a university residential course. CEI offered me just the right solution. I was able to plan when and what I studied and we saved money because I was able to take the course from home rather than having to pay for university accommodation."