Matter of Degrees

A compelling documentary looks at student life at the University of Newcastle as the post-war baby boom shakes up higher education in the 1960s.

This absorbing television documentary follows young students at the newly created University of Newcastle, as the ‘wind of change’ blows through higher education in the radical 60s. The shock of the new is most memorably captured in a student conversation filmed during an exhibition in the old Kings College Fine Art building, now the Hatton Gallery. Like a parody on pseudo art-speak, it rivals Tony Hancock in The Rebel.

This Tyne Tees Television production was broadcast in the same year that the Robbins Report recommended immediate expansion of universities. The academic gowns are relics of an elitist past but A Matter of Degrees highlights the modern with the traditional, notably featuring the new Herschel Physics Building, designed by the architect Sir Basil Spence and opened on 16 March 1962. The Fine Art School, once part of Durham University, boasted revolutionary teaching by abstract artist and architect Victor Pasmore. He was joined by the internationally renowned ‘father of Pop Art’ Richard Hamilton, whose students included working class Washington lad and future pop star Bryan Ferry.