Faculty of 
This year’s fourth VetNEST summer school: Summer School Animal Welfare, Veterinary Ethics and Law and Communication Skills, which was held from July 10th to 14th, 2023, was organized for the first time at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Zagreb. The Summer School was attended by 26 students from veterinary higher education institutions gathered in the VetNEST association, a total of 9 countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Croatia).
The curriculum of the summer school combines several disciplines from different fields that are related to animal welfare, all with the aim of enabling the participants, future veterinarians, to fully understand the subject matter and apply the acquired knowledge. The horizontal integration of different teaching disciplines represents an added value to the regular teaching program and enables students to develop new ways of solving problems from an ethical-legal communication point of view with the aim of preserving the welfare of animals.
The well-being of animals and the protection of their legal status require today’s veterinary professionals not only to know the principles of well-being but also to be able to proceed with various actions related to monitoring the quality of their lives, as well as improvements in the case of significant deterioration of well-being and health because of their neglect and abuse of animals.
The classes were held over five days, one day of which was practical work which was organized in the Zootechnical Practicum of the Higher School of Economics in Križevci.
During the summer school, in addition to experts and lecturers in the field of veterinary medicine, lawyers, ethicists, philosophers, and communicators participated in the Workshop. In addition to teachers from the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Zagreb, Prof. Krešimir Severin, Ph.D. and Assoc. Prof. Mario Ostović, Ph.D., lecturers were Prof. Vlatko Ilieski, Ph.D. and Assoc. Prof. Miroslav Kjosevski, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, Svenja Springer, Ph.D. and Christian Dürnberger, Ph.D. from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Prof. Danijel Labaš , Ph.D. from the Faculty of Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Prof. Boris Bakota, Ph.D. from the Osijek Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek and Viktor Denkovski Ph.D. from the University of American College Skopje.
Prof. Krešimir Severin Ph.D.
