Liverpool Hope University’s vision for enhancing student employability Liverpool Hope University, headquartered in the picturesque suburbs of Childwall in the south of the city, is an institution with a distinct philosophy that’s geared to guiding all of its students into finding their vocation and calling. As the nation seeks to emerge from a crippling global pandemic, the importance of ensuring graduates are equipped with the skills industries require has been brought into sharp focus. Hope recently put into place a new strategy - its ‘vision’ - for enhancing student employability. And here we speak with the University’s Rector and Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerald Pillay, as well as key members of
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the high-profile Liverpool Hope Business School, about its commitment to the employability of its students, what it’s doing in a tangible and practical sense to foster crucial links with industry, and why it’s also listening to what local firms are really looking for in its graduate recruits. Professor Pillay, who was recently made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for ‘services to Higher Education’ in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, says: “Just like Schools of Medicine need hospitals to form a doctor, and good Schools of Education need actual schools to form the teachers, a Business School needs partners in industry to form the future business leader. It can not be done in an ivory tower and it can not be done on our campus alone - as beautiful as it is.
“The next five to ten years are going to be centred on the recovery of our economy. Not only have we been hit by side-winds like Brexit, Covid then came and all of us had to rethink our positions. “We’ve shrunk as an economy. It’s going to take many years to build back better. “So focussing on employability, and preparing our graduates to take their places in industry with confidence, is absolutely crucial, as is developing the professional know-how that will make them successful.” Under-pinning that strategy is renewed focus on ways in which Hope can give students the best possible chance of not just getting a job, but thriving in it. Hope’s overall philosophy talks about ‘educating in the round’ - focusing on the mind, body and spirit. In creating free-thinking, engaged, participating individuals, it places the emphasis on generating citizens who can contribute
