History of the AHT Distance Program

Thompson Rivers University's Animal Health Technology program began in 1981. The program is two years in length and graduates up to 24 students per year. Our students are mainly British Columbia residents but they have also come from all over Canada. We currently receive over 100 applications per year for the 24 available positions. The program has been very successful and its graduates consistently score in the top 10% of the Veterinary Technician National Exam (VTNE) which is written by students from over 100 Veterinary Technician training institutions in North America.

For several years it has become apparent that there is a need for a parallel program which trains Animal Health Technologists using Distance Education methods. The prospective students for this program are very interested in becoming AHT’s, have the ability and educational experience to be successful in the program and are often already working in a veterinary clinic or related position. The main reason that these prospective students have not applied to our on campus program before is that they are unable to relocate to Kamloops for two years because of many factors including family duties, work obligations and the expense of relocating. Our survey of British Columbia Veterinary Clinics indicated that the veterinary community is very supportive of an alternative education method for their employees especially if it means that the employee can continue working while upgrading their technical skills.

With this demand for alternative AHT education in mind we began researching the establishment of the TRU Animal Heath Technology Distance Education program (TRU AHTDE program). We reviewed the following successful American Veterinary Medical Association accredited programs:

St. Petersburg Junior College – Florida

Cedar Valley College (Dallas County Community College District, Texas) – the American Animal Hospital Association sponsored program

Purdue University - Indiana

Blue Ridge Community College - Virginia

The decision was made by TRU in January of 2004 to offer the AHTDE program beginning in January of 2005. Our program is now fully accredited by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.

The information contained in the Student Handbook is as current as we can possibly make it. However, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the TRU AHTDE program at 250-852-7170 or email ahtprograms@tru.ca