A Palmerston North City councillor is among a group of notable kiwi's involved in a Massey University campaign to change the perception of the Bachelor of Arts degree.

Massey University has been working on dispelling rumours that employers aren't interested in graduates with arts degrees and that it is a second-class degree.

Palmerston North City councillor Tangi Utikere, along with actress Antonia Prebble and Seven Days host Jeremy Corbett, feature in an online marketing campaign by Massey University.

Bachelor of Arts external relations director Richard Shaw said the campaign was created in an attempt to tell a different story about the BA and the value it has to offer in today's world.

He said they were wanting dispel a number of myths, including the idea that employers don't want someone with a BA.

Utikere was brought on board because he demonstrated how the qualification could pave the way for various career options.

Utikere began his degree in 1999, majoring in politics. He then went on to study teaching, spending 12 years teaching science and history.

He was first elected to the city council in 2010.

"There has historically always been a suggestion that any individual with a BA has "bugger all".

"Being a local lad and it being a university I went to, I was keen to support and promote a degree that delivers a broad range of skills and appeals to a broad range of people.

"If you take everyone with a BA out of the community, it would be a different place with a lack of richness."

The campaign was tied in with the university's "re-vitalised" BA degree, which has been in the works for the past two years.

A working party was formed in 2014 to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the degree.

Structural changes were made to the degree, with new core papers on national, global and active citizenship.

Shaw said the changes were constructive, not recreational.

Changes weren't driven by enrolment, but were future focused, he said.

The changes were aimed at future job opportunities, ensuring graduates had the skills needed for whatever jobs were created.

There was no way to predict what jobs would be available in 10 years, Shaw said.