Santander Universities Case Study- Skills Enhancement Programme

Posted on: 7 May 2021 in Connections in action

Santander Universities provide University of Liverpool students with an opportunity to carry our research on their behalf via a real world project as part of our Skills Enhancement Programme.

Santander Universities – a branch of Santander Group – work to create “life-changing opportunities in the Higher Education sector which foster sustainability through inclusive and impactful support” by making key impacts linked to education, entrepreneurship, and employability.

The project that Santander Universities proposed for the Skills Enhancement Programme asked students to consider how Santander could raise the profile of its Universities scheme across the UK.  Key outcomes would involve students investigating current awareness & engagement, methods of increasing awareness & engagement and how Covid-19 has impacted the sector, whilst considering these factors through Santander Universities’ key lenses of education, entrepreneurship, and employability.

Around a third of students applying to the SEP expressed an interest in Santander Universities’ project, and the successful group of 4 were made up of two students each from the University’s Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences (studying Account & Finance and Business Management) and that of Science & Engineering (Geography and Mechanical Engineering).

The students’ research found that only 9% of respondents were aware of the Santander Universities’ collaboration with universities across the UK, but that 50% of the students would be more inclined to consider starting their own business if they were aware of the links to their work from an entrepreneurship perspective.  They also found that 96% of students felt like Santander Universities employability offer could prove beneficial to them, but that 91% of students felt that the Covid-19 pandemic had adversely affected their opportunities to gain experience – the student group identified Santander Universities’ internship funding as a key means of bridging the gap between these two factors.

The group’s recommendations were focused around enhanced awareness campaigns around the social media platforms of Santander Universities and the careers departments of academic institutions, and the standardisation of training for careers departments and student ambassadors, and the establishment of challenge, competition, or hackathon based activities to enhance Santander Universities’ profile in a fun & engaging manner.

Damien Mullany, Relationship Manager at Santander Universities, commented that he was pleased with the research undertaken & the recommendations made by the student group and indicated that he’d be presenting their work to his wider team.

The Santander Universities project represented an example of the Employer Connections Team’s guiding ethos (“make connections, build networks, & get hired”) in action.  One of the students utilised their new connection & expanded network to gain insights into ‘working with SMEs’ from Damien, whilst another built upon their experience to be successfully chosen to participate in the Santander Universities & Sporting Edge Online Self-Development Programme.  All were able to develop their team-working, communication, commercial awareness, project management, research, and presentation skills whilst working on their project.

As well as providing students with experiential learning opportunities via the Skills Enhancement Programme, Santander Universities also engage with Careers & Employability at the University by providing funding that contributes to our Business Recovery Internship Programme via which businesses can benefit from £1000 to fund a student or graduate to complete a short term project on their behalf. 

Contact employerconnections@liverpool.ac.uk to find out more about how you can benefit from this or to discuss providing us with a project as part of our Skills Enhancement Programme.

Student Benaiah worked on this project with Santander Universities, hear from him on his experience: