The Hard Stuff With Nigel Latta - Degrees of Success

In this Hard Stuff episode, Nigel Latta asks whether assumptions about the desirability of getting a university degree make sense. Latta quizzes Auckland University Vice-Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon about the upside of degrees, and compares his time as a university student in the 1980s with those in the 2000s, who face years of debt repayment in exchange for their qualifications. A degree is the "last" thing entrepreneur Ian Taylor looks for in job applicants; for composer Karl Steven, studying philosophy was its own reward. Latta also meets Julius Bloem, whose passion for cars earned him a house in his 20s.

...we sometimes think of a degree as a bit like a police badge or something — it's like 'I have a degree, so that will just open doors for me, and behind the doors will be all this money', you know? The other way to look at a degree is that experience of reading all that stuff and attending all those lectures and writing those assignments and getting the feedback on them and all that, I think, changes who you are as a person. It certainly did for me.

– Composer Karl Steven on why he studied philosophy at university

Key Cast & Crew

Emma Patterson

Editor

Arwen O'Connor

Producer

Mark McNeill

Executive Producer

Bevan Crothers

Cinematographer

Nigel Latta

Presenter

Mitchell Hawkes

Director