Fourteen junior-year university students have landed on Bermuda, the vanguard of new educational alliance between the Bermuda Biological Station for Research and Durham, North Carolina's, Duke University.

The undergraduate programme is an extension of Duke's physical sciences curriculum and builds on the University's Beaufort marine research facility located on the North Carolina coast, Dr. Fred Lipschultz, Head of Academic Affairs at the Biostation told The Royal Gazette .

It also marks the first time the Biostation has linked formally with a post-secondary institution to offer academic credit course instruction.

"The students actually come from a consortium of schools, mostly at the college level, but under the Duke umbrella,'' said Dr. Lipschultz.

The first group of students which arrived in mid-January have nearly completed seven weeks of study, choosing from classes and lab sessions on biological oceanography, biogeochemistry, and remote sensing. All courses are taught by Biostation research staff.

Field work, said Dr. Lipschultz, includes travel to deep-ocean sampling sites on the RV Weatherbird , and scuba diving to collect specimens for individual projects.

Bermuda, because of its access to the deep ocean, is the ideal site for introducing students to the world of oceanography. "It's an environment that can't be duplicated,'' said Dr. Lipschultz.

"I had been planning to study at Beaufort (Marine Lab) but then I heard about the programme here,'' 20-year-old Duke junior Marcia Macedo told The Royal Gazette .

Considering a career in bio-anthropology, the native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, nevertheless said the Biostation experience has opened her eyes to whole other fields.

"I have a general interest in conservation and the environment. This has broadened my horizons. I really found the remote sensing programme interesting.'' Like most of the students on Station, 21-year-old Dawn Jacobs signed on because she's still trying to find her academic calling.

"This is my trying ground, my first time in the deep-sea environment and my first time out of the United States,'' said Jacobs, a native of Chapin, South Carolina and an aspiring biologist.

"Originally I was planning to go to Beaufort but thought twice when I heard about Bermuda's programme. I love it here, you're right in the middle of all the environmental processes.'' A second group of 25 Duke students is scheduled to settle into the Biostation's Wright Hall by mid-March and will be able to choose from a slate of courses including global climate change, tropical marine ecology, and tropical marine invertebrate biology.

Undoubtedly, says Dr. Lipschultz, "there has been a shift towards an increased educational presence for the Biostation.'' Graduate students have long taken advantage of the station's world-class facilities and unparalleled ocean access to carry out individual research. The Biostation also offers university-level summer courses, but the student's home institution ultimately has the last word concerning accreditation.

In addition the station offers a selection of courses geared for the Elderhostel crowd, added Dr. Lipschultz.

Meanwhile, scholarship money from corporations such as Exxon has been augmented with a recent announcement by the US National Science Foundation that the Biostation has been awarded its third three-year grant to fund research experiences for undergraduate students.

"We'll be taking in eight students for one semester to work on research projects of their own choosing,'' said Dr. Lipschultz. "Projects like these work hand-in-hand with our research mandate.'' CLASS ACT -- Students from Duke University have converged on the Bermuda Biological Station for Research for the first formal offering of undergraduate level physical science courses.

Dr. Fred Lipschultz