Cover Feature

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 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

“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.”

to the global economy, not just excel at passing exams.

Professor Pillay adds: “We will facilitate a journey of self-exploration, societal engagement, gaining appropriate work and placement experiences to stimulate confidence, creativity and innovation.”

Over the next five years Hope plans to expand its already-extensive portfolio of employability opportunities while also developing students’ professional and social skills to enable them to ‘engage and compete successfully on the world stage’.

Hope already has a dedicated ‘Employability Hub’, aiding students when it comes to CV writing, interview tips, work experience opportunities, and job vacancy information.

Students are also encouraged to join its ‘Service and Leadership Award’ scheme, or ‘SALA’, which provides opportunities to volunteer in local organisations to help with community-based projects. The award runs alongside any degree and is a great addition to someone’s CV.

There’s also the Hope Placement and Internship programme, which sees the University working closely with employers and voluntary organisations to offer placement opportunities that cover a wide spectrum of professions - with recent examples including Law Clinic Advisor, Social Media Consultant, Sports Coach, Finance Intern, HR Intern and Design Intern.

But Hope’s ambitions go much further.

The target for the next five years is to be above the national average for graduate level employment from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) ‘Graduate Outcomes‘ survey 15 months after graduation.

It’s striving to be in the top 10% of universities for graduates employed or in further study from the Graduate Outcomes survey 15 months after graduation. It wants to be in the top 10% of universities for graduates in graduate level employment or further study in the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) ‘Graduate Outcomes‘ survey 15 months after graduation.

Crucially, Hope is also committed to increasing the number of students who engage with the Placement and Internship Programme, placement years and employer insight events, year on year.

Ginny Mair is Head of Student Development and Employability at Hope.

In recent years Ginny and her team have placed a huge focus on working in conjunction with employers to actually shape the curriculum. A recent

example saw Hope’s School of Creative and Performing Arts partnering with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres to co-design the Drama & Theatre curriculum and also to offer collaborative masterclasses, assessment tasks and placements.

Ginny reveals: “We were one of the first universities to embed careers programmes in all subjects at all levels. Now we’re following that up by bringing employers into the University to help shape curriculums.

“The Business School has always been excellent at doing this, and now all of the other subjects are following suit, including disciplines like English and History which might not have traditionally met with employers.

“And the focus now is very much on placements. The University has agreed that every subject can now be linked with a placement year, giving everyone the opportunity to take a year out to work in industry during their studies, helping to form those invaluable relationships with employers.

“The other thing we’re mindful of is that, historically, employers have been very vocal about how graduates are not ‘work ready’, or how they’re not equipped to enter a workplace and hit the ground running when it comes to their responsibilities.

“This is why placements, and bringing employers into the curriculum, is so important to us. It’s about us saying, ‘Okay, if you think UK graduates aren’t work ready, then come and have an input and help us deliver precisely what you’re looking for’.”

Lyndsey Burkert is Business Engagement & Employability Manager, as well as a Professional Tutor, in the Liverpool Hope Business School. She’s in constant discussions with Liverpool Chamber of Commerce when it comes to research the Chamber conducts to home-in on the skills local firms need right now, as well as any barriers companies might face in recruiting graduates with the appropriate skillset.

Last year Lyndsey launched the ‘Skills Passport’, a new initiative to develop ‘soft skills’ among Business Management students - such as resilience, interpersonal relations and communication techniques, to support future employability outcomes.

Lyndsey adds: “The ‘Passport’ programme isn’t just about upskilling, it’s about adding value through industry insights into the academic programmes at the Business School.

“Some of the feedback we’ve had from businesses is that they’re not sure how to engage with Hope and its students. If they’re small SMEs they simply might not have the time or resources to work out who they should be speaking to at the University. But for us, the message is clear - simply reach out to the Business School and we’ll do the rest.”

There are other, more strategic ways, in which Hope is engaging with local industry.

As part of the International Master of Business Administration, students are required to perform a consultancy project with a local firm.

This year saw one student, Umair Sadiq, being praised by Merseyside tech firm IoT Horizon for a consultancy which revolved around the implementation of sustainable business practices by utilising the circular economy principle. IoT Horizon went so far as saying the consultancy had changed its ‘business outlook on sustainability and circularity’.

Meanwhile the event, which perhaps symbolises Hope’s links with business best, is the annual Insight to Business Awards, where industrious students from Hope are presented with coveted work experience placements from some of the region’s most influential firms and organisations following a rigorous nomination, shortlist and interview process.

Head of Hope’s Business School Ian McKenna argues: “Whether students win an award or not is almost irrelevant - the process of going through the nomination and interview is ‘money in the bank’ for them as they set out on their careers. It’s just a great experience.”

RSM UK - a global firm specialising in audit, tax and consulting services - was one such firm offering a placement. Ian Taylor, Partner and North West Regional Head of Real Estate and Construction at RSM UK, commented: “The students that have come to us in the past have been invaluable and we really enjoy working with them.

“Graduates are a really important part of our business because, fundamentally, we are a training organisation and last year alone we took on more than 400 graduates nationally. We intend to do the same going forward into next year and into the future.

“So having close contacts with the universities in Liverpool, and the graduates coming through, is incredibly important to us.”

As Hope looks to the future with renewed enthusiasm following the pandemic, Vice-Chancellor Professor Pillay sumsup: “We want all our students to be successful regardless of the career choices they make.”