David Crawford of Huntersville felt that he never truly belonged in North Carolina.
He was always interested in traveling, and his family had moved around a bit in the United States when he was younger. At his freshman orientation, he was already looking into study abroad programs. Now a junior, Crawford returned to UNC this fall after being at the National University of Singapore for a year.
Crawford, a geography major, was the first student from UNC to study at the National University of Singapore (NUS) through a joint degree program between UNC and NUS. The joint degree program is the first of its kind among UNC’s U.S. peers and allows students to broaden their educational and international experiences.
The program began two years ago, when eight NUS students came to Carolina. The program is growing: Crawford was the first student, and now two other students are in Singapore. Another student will join them in the spring semester. The program works on an exchange basis, with both schools having the same number of students joining the program.
Crawford received financial support through the Phillips Ambassadors Scholarship Program. Phillips Ambassador scholarships help fund approved study abroad programs in Asia, where undergraduates can receive up to $7,500 per semester/year or up to $5,000 for summer programs.
He said one of the benefits of the joint degree program is the length of time students spend in Singapore.
“I feel like I was able to integrate my life into Singapore better than other people because of the length of stay.”
Singapore was never a foreign idea to him. Crawford’s father had worked in Singapore, and his family had even considered moving there. Unlike most people, he grew up knowing about Singapore and a bit about its culture. His geography concentration is migration trends. After studying migration in Singapore, he said he has a new outlook on international migration.
“I [now] know about two places: I know about Singapore and I know the United States, and within those regions I’m able to think a little bit differently than other people. I have a more global outlook on migration trends,” said Crawford.
With a focus on migration and developmental geography, Crawford interned at Transient Workers Count Too, a nongovernmental organization. There, he helped migrant workers who were exploited. He was able to see how the workers lived, and the struggles nonprofits face. He remembers a time when a group of workers were doing art therapy, after being kicked out of their housing complex. “Seeing them have that experience and just expressing themselves was a great memory.”
While abroad, Crawford also visited countries that were more impoverished than Singapore, and he noted the vast differences in how people lived.
Next summer, he hopes to receive funding for independent research in Bangladesh and Nepal. He is also applying for a trip through the American Association of Geographers to return to Singapore in March 2010 to work on geography education integrating the United States and Asia.
And some day, he would like to visit other areas of the world.
“I feel like I’ve seen a lot of Southeast Asia. There are other places and other regions I want to go to.”
Students with a 3.3 GPA are eligible for the joint degree program between UNC and NUS. They can apply for it after the first semester of their freshman year and before the second semester of their junior year. Students can choose when they wish to study at NUS, as long as it is after their freshman year, and they can get their joint degree in economics, English literature, geography, history and political science. This year, the program will also add philosophy.
