More than one in four UCD students either failed their first-year science exams or dropped out of the course, according to new figures.
The very high failure rates come after UCD dropped its CAO point levels for science courses, in an attempt to arrest the fall-off in student demand.
In 2003 students required 280 points for entry to science, a significant drop on the traditional high points for the course. This year, students required 325 points for science at UCD.
UCD said last night that these figures were a matter of great concern. A spokesman said the college would be exploring all options to ensure a higher retention rate.
But he stressed that there would be no compromising of academic standards.
The failure rate in science is by far the highest among UCD courses.
The arts course in UCD is the most popular single degree course in the State.
The following were the failure rates in other first-year courses last year:
Arts 9 per cent
Agriculture 9 per cent
Veterinary 3 per cent
Social Science 10 per cent
Nursing and related 6 per cent
Law 0.8 per cent
Architecture 1.8 per cent
Engineering 1 per cent.
Medicine 2 per cent.
The overall 10 per cent failure rate does not include a further 8 per cent who withdrew from or dropped out of the course.
The trends in science at UCD will dismay and disappoint Government and industry which have been seeking to rekindle student interest in science.
Last night, Brendan Butler of the employers' body IBEC said the trend in UCD was "very worrying for Ireland Inc and for our economic development.
"We have students opting out of science subjects at second level and now these huge failure rates at third level."
The UCD figures obtained by The Irish Times show that of the 294 students who registered for first-year science in 2003-4, some 28 per cent either failed the exam or withdrew from the course.
Sources say that UCD may be suffering because it offers a broadly based general science degree.
Failure rates at TCD in science subjects are very low, because the college offers more specific scientific disciplines which attract very high CAO points.
UCD is also known to be concerned about the latest CAO figures released this week which show a decline of more than 10 per cent in applications for science courses.
This comes despite a national trend showing a 5 per cent increase in demand for science courses across the third-level sector.
UCD president Hugh Brady will be disappointed with the science figures in the college. A former deputy director of medicine at Harvard, Dr Brady says he is determined to place UCD among the top 30 universities in Europe.
Next Tuesday the college's governing authority will consider his far-reaching plan for reform. This will see the number of faculties reduced from 11 to five.
The current 90-plus academic department will be recast in 35 new schools.
Dr Brady hopes to move the implementation phase of his plans after Easter and to have the new structures in place in time for the next academic year.
