Vijay Loganathan decided to pursue a B.VSc degree despite getting a medical seat in 2015.
A student of the Namakkal Veterinary College and a native of Karur, he said he had started liking the programme though 60 students of his batch had migrated. On Wednesday, he, along with three batchmates from the Madras Veterinary College, left on a two-month trip to the United States as part of a student exchange programme with Oklahoma State University.
Vijay, M. Dharanya from Hosur, Jeeviya M. from Salem and Neethi B. of Alapuzha, Kerala — all final-year B.VSc students — were chosen based on their academic and extra-curricular performance. Dharanya and Jeeviya are first-generation learners. Vijay’s father is a bus driver for a private operator in Karur.
The Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) signed an agreement with the U.S. university two years ago, under which the latter institution has sent five students this semester to Tamil Nadu. Four of the five students are from Texas. “We don’t have lots of animals. We see a lot more cases here,” explained Rachel Dill, whose passion for animals led her to choose veterinary medicine.
The American students are accompanied by Lionel Das, Tanuvas alumnus and a professor at the U.S. university. “They have come here for clinical experience. They do not see these many diseases or case load. They probably see only 20 to 30 animals in a day, we get 200 cases,” Mr. Das said.