The Standing Committee on Career Attributes (SCOCA) was founded in July 2019 to work toward improving the professionalism and soft skills of IVSA members worldwide and provide structure to the previously established IVSA Trainer’s Network.
SCOCA aims to complement veterinary education with opportunities to improve career attributes to allow for a successful future career in veterinary medicine for all veterinary students worldwide.
Our Mission
Facilitate the development and enhancement of soft skills (i.e., communication, leadership, teamwork, time management, etc.) of veterinary students worldwide.
Provide veterinary students with the tools to develop the necessary attributes required for a successful career in veterinary medicine.
Promote and coordinate the IVSA Trainer’s Network, allowing IVSA members to become trainers and share their knowledge and skills with other students.
To discuss Career attributes and Career opportunity topics.
To spread awareness of the importance of Soft skills and attributes in Veterinary Education.
To create opportunities for students to actively participate in projects and events to improve their skills.
Our Projects
Trainers Network
The IVSA Trainer’s Network was established in July 2016 to improve professionalism within IVSA and enable students to develop soft skills they can utilize to train fellow IVSA members. The first ‘Training New Trainers’ (TNT) event occurred in Brno, Czech Republic, in July 2016 in collaboration with the European Pharmacy Students’ Association (EPSA).
Training New Trainers Events (TNTs)
Training New Trainers (TNT) and events are opportunities for IVSA members to become candidate trainers and begin the journey to becoming an IVSA trainer! TNTs aim to guide candidate trainers into discovering who they are, what they want to achieve, and how to share this newfound knowledge with others.
In the first portion of a TNT, workshops are focused on candidates’ self-discovery and self-improvement by using specific outlined tools delivered by the presenting Trainers.
The second part of a TNT is focused on utilizing this newfound self-development to instruct and guide other individuals toward achieving this same self-development (how to train others). A TNT event ends with the candidates delivering a graduation workshop to individuals not associated with the TNT.
Trainers Library
The “Trainers Library” (TL) collects useful resources, documents, lesson plans, etc., for IVSA Trainers. The TL has separate folders containing documents on how to organize training events, explanations of training content, promotional materials, minutes of the meetings, etc.
SCOCA Workshops and Webinars
SCOCA Workshops are online practical tutorial guidelines designed to cover specific topics related to soft skills and attributes as comprehensively as possible. In contrast, webinars are lectures delivered by expert international speakers to support the aims of SCOCA.
IVSA Official’s Workshops and Webinars
Training for officials on effective communication, inclusive dialogue, and responsible advocacy, along with training on tools used by IVSA Officials, and rather than having lecture classes, it will be more of a workshop-type event.
SCOCA BLOG
Access here
It is Blog Content prepared by IVSA SCOCA detailed on Soft skills and Career Attributes.
SCOCA & SCOVE Veterinary Profession Podcast
Access here
"What’s it like to be a veterinarian working in the various career sectors?" We explore different career paths by creating a platform for such interactions and learning from diverse speakers' professional journeys and experiences in a one-on-one interview format on our YouTube channel.
SCOCA Skills Card
SCOCA uploads social media posts twice a month containing information related to soft skills on themes like communication, emotional intelligence, time management, public speaking, etc.
Our Team
