By Jennani Durai & Kimberly Spykerman

AS PRESIDENT'S Scholars, Ms Kaan Hung Leng and Ms Tan Li Feng could have gone to any top-notch overseas university, and on the Government's dime, too.

But both opted, a year apart, to study medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

They said family ties have kept them here: Ms Kaan, 20, already has a sister studying in the United States and a brother who moved out of the family home after he got married.

'I stayed in Singapore because I didn't want my parents to feel lonely,' she said.

Ms Tan, 22, also cannot imagine spending six years away from her family.

Beyond kin, both also chose to continue their studies here out of a desire to know how Singapore ticks. Ms Kaan says she has a deep interest in local politics; Ms Tan believes that being trained here will prepare her better to be a doctor in Singapore.

Indeed, seven scholarship holders interviewed by The Straits Times echoed similar reasons for picking a local over an overseas university - family and the advantage of a Singapore context in preparing them for careers here.

Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship holder Loh Wei-Liang, who is studying medicine on a local merit scholarship, said: 'If you want to practise here, you need to get used to the system here. The diseases and the demographic here are very different from another country's.'

Understanding Singapore is also important in fields like business or law.

For Singapore Management University (SMU) undergraduate Genevieve Wong, 20, who is doing a double degree in law and business management, studying here is useful because the course covers cases unique to Singapore.

Her coursemate Jo Tay, 21, withdrew from the final round of interviews for a PSC overseas scholarship to enter SMU.

She said: 'Since I'm studying business, I might as well be here. I was afraid of going overseas and then coming back to find I needed contacts, but didn't know anyone.'

She also believes local universities can hold their own against the best overseas.

Having spent three months at Harvard University this year, she was at first sceptical of being able to get the same academic opportunities at SMU. But she was impressed when SMU brought in the very professor whose work she admired and had researched at Harvard to present his newest paper.

PSC scholar Danielle Zheng, now doing her Master's degree in English Literature in London, credits her undergraduate programme at the NUS for her stronger grasp of world literature.

While those who choose to go to school here are convinced that the local schools deliver quality education, they do feel the occasional twinge of envy when hearing their friends talk about their lives abroad.

Ms Tan said: 'They seem to be having a ball of a time overseas and seem to have their minds stretched in amazing ways because of the intellectual rigour of some of the institutions they are in.'

But she has learnt to appreciate the local university community, and that one can learn 'from anyone and any place'.

She has done her share of travelling - from the Philippines to Ireland and Canada - with the NUS debate team, and the average local undergraduate now gets international exposure through overseas exchanges and work stints.

Asked about the 'prestige' that goes with being an alumnus of an overseas university, the scholarship holders lamented that local universities are underestimated.

Ms Zheng said: 'Sadly, the worst criticism NUS and the universities here face comes not from other people, but from fellow countrymen and the students themselves.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.