SINGAPORE
HE took the long route to get a degree.

Mr Richard Low, 30, went to Townsville Institute after his O levels for a three-year A-level programme. Today, he is one of 232 graduating with a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Sydney, through SIM.

Not only that, but the senior medic with the Singapore Armed Forces is also well on his way to getting a Masters in Health Science (Management).

Mr Low, who had signed on as a regular with the Singapore Armed Forces a year into his National Service, got fired up about nursing after his attachment to the medical unit.

He ditched his plan to pursue a degree in social work at the National University of Singapore at which he had a place, choosing instead to do a diploma in nursing at Nanyang Polytechnic.

While the diploma was sponsored by the SAF, he has had to pay for his degree course out of his own pocket.

ARDOUS STUDIES
It continues to be a tough battle, juggling his work and his studies. He had to attend lectures two or three times a week, after work, and sometimes during the weekends. Mr Low said: "I spend most of my 21 days? annual leave on assignments and exams."

While most of his coursemates graduated from the degree programme in two years, he took three as he had to go on several overseas missions and exercises as part of his work.

So why did he choose nursing?

He replied: "I can meet and help a lot of people, and there's a lot of satisfaction in that."

Mr Low was quick to say that there are several male nurses in the SAF, in case you think there are only a few of them.

"There's still a perception that nursing is a female vocation," he said. "But this is slowly changing."

His toughest and most challenging job so far, he said, was planning the medical requirements for this year's National Day Parade.

"It was an entirely different set-up and we didn't have previous guidelines to follow."

Not only did he have to work long days during that period as well as the weekends, he said, he was also just starting his Masters programme. But he managed and even found love.

A longtime acquaintance, Ms Karen Seak, a nurse in a hospital, happened to have signed up for the same Masters course.

They plan to get married next year.