Is a degree no longer that important? That issue has been the subject of some debate recently, after four ministers spoke in quick succession on how a degree is not the only path to success for young Singaporeans. In an illuminating interview last week, SMU President Arnoud De Meyer provided an answer. University education is more than the scroll, he said. It is about the irreplaceable experiences of the excitement of learning, the discussions with others, the creativity of working day and night on projects and making new friends. "I hope we can go a little bit more towards an attitude of, 'I had an interesting experience and that itself is much more important than the fact that at the end of my X weeks of learning I get a piece of paper that says, You Did It'." Perhaps it is time to think of university in terms of the experience, rather than as a paper guaranteeing success in life.