Building It From the Ground Up: Liverpool’s First AI Micro-Internship

Posted on: 11 February 2026 by Jason Steers in News, Awards & Insights - blog

Nearly 300 Liverpool students took part in the University’s first AI micro-internship — a four-week virtual experience designed to simulate real consultancy work. Co-created with Springpod and Accenture, the pilot shows what scalable, inclusive work experience can look like when it’s built deliberately around students.

Building it from the ground up

There’s a moment in every new initiative where it stops being an idea and starts being real. For the Careers & Employability team, that moment came when nearly 300 students logged in — not to a lecture, not to a careers talk, but to a four-week virtual internship designed to simulate real consultancy work, powered by AI, and shaped in partnership with Springpod and Accenture.

What followed became the University of Liverpool’s first AI micro-internship — and a proof point for what scalable, inclusive work experience can look like in practice.

From FE platform to HE opportunity

Springpod was not originally built for universities. As Jason Steers explains, the platform’s roots sit firmly in the further education space, supporting 16–18 year-olds to explore university. But by 2024, Springpod was looking to move into higher education — and Liverpool saw an opportunity.

Rather than adopting an off-the-shelf product, the University worked with Springpod to explore what meaningful virtual work experience could look like for its students. The result was a two-strand model: a library of short simulations, alongside something more ambitious — a bespoke micro-internship designed from scratch.

“It wasn’t something we just launched,” Jason reflects. “It was something we shaped — deliberately — around our students.”

Designed around Liverpool Launchpad

The micro-internship was born out of Liverpool Launchpad, the University’s commitment to giving students access to guaranteed, career-boosting opportunities. AI consultancy was a natural fit: timely, cross-disciplinary, and relevant to employers across sectors.

Running over four weeks in November 2025, the programme was live but flexible. Students progressed together, but worked asynchronously — balancing the internship alongside their studies.

The first half focused on foundations: what consultants do, how business problems are framed, and how AI can be used responsibly in professional contexts. Students developed prompt engineering techniques and learned how AI tools can support — not replace — human decision-making.

The second half shifted decisively into application. Students selected one of eight real business challenges, each provided by a regional employer sourced through the Employer Connections team. These briefs spanned sectors — from business and finance to marketing — ensuring the programme was accessible regardless of academic background.

Designing for access — and delivering results

The programme was co-created by Careers & Employability, Springpod and Accenture, with input from career coaches, graduate interns and the EDI Officer to ensure accessibility, challenge and engagement were balanced from the outset.

Content was deliberately varied — video, podcasts, practical tasks, quizzes and in-platform nudges — helping students consolidate learning while staying motivated through a busy first semester.

The result was engagement that held:

• 299 students applied via Handshake through a competitive process

• 261 activated their licence and began the programme

• 161 completed the full four-week internship

• 62% completion rate — exceptionally strong for a virtual experience of this length

• Net Promoter Score above 50

• Pre- and post-programme surveys showed clear gains in AI capability, consultancy skills and career confidence

Many students chose briefs outside their subject area, deliberately stretching beyond their comfort zones.

“They tested themselves,” Jason reflects. “That confidence shift was one of the most powerful outcomes.”

What happens next

The micro-internship was a pilot — but not a one-off. The aim now is to grow it: more employers, more challenges, and more students given the chance to test themselves in a real-world setting.

For Jason, the most powerful moment wasn’t the data. It was seeing something built from scratch make a tangible difference.

“That end point — knowing it made a difference — that’s been huge.”

If you’re working with students who are ready to stretch — or who just need a confidence boost — signpost them to Liverpool Launchpad. These opportunities don’t just build skills; they change how students see themselves.