Dear Madam,
I would like to make a correction to an item featured in the Galway Independent on Wednesday, 5 December 2007. The article was titled Me and the Sea - Paul Ruigrok, Auditor, NUIG Marine Society, written by Staff Reporter.

My correction is in relation to the statement: "His course, Marine Science at NUIG, took in 178 students when he was in first year. Of that original number, there are 17 left. It has a high failure rate, which is "probably because there are a lot of statistics", which Paul admits he found surprising."

In fact, there is a rather low failure rate in the B.Sc. Marine Science. The number of students taken in when Paul was in first year was 21 not 178 as stated. The course therefore retained 17 out of 21 students to third year level, which is very high. This retention of students does not reflect an 'easy' course but rather the enthusiasm of students taking this course which is generally very good. Student retention is very rarely due to failure of a particular component such as biostatistics and can also reflect the situation where students occasionally transfer to other courses. I wanted to clarify this matter because it is potentially very off-putting for students who may be considering a B.Sc. in Marine Science.

Best wishes, Anne Marie

Dr Anne Marie Power
Co-ordinator of Marine Science B.Sc. NUIG
Department of Zoology
NUI, Galway

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