In the most recent issue of Graduate Futures Institute, The Management School's Employability Team Leader, Tony Murphy, outlines how the School’s Enhance programme combines Liverpool’s vibrant heritage with the international perspectives of its postgraduate students. The result is a four-week holistic journey that blends local insight, cross-cultural collaboration, and structured career-focused activities designed to strengthen students’ professional readiness and long-term relationships.
How do you deliver personalised experiences to nearly 1000 international students representing over 65 nationalities that improve their career decisions and prospects? In 2023, the University of Liverpool Management School (ULMS) sought to address this challenge through the introduction of Enhance.
Enhance aims to support the school’s diverse international postgraduate community in securing high-quality employment while fostering a strong sense of belonging, blending career preparation with cultural celebration and wellbeing. Employability is integrated with cultural exploration and the diverse experiences of our students, while Liverpool City Region’s proud heritage provides an inspiring backdrop as a place of discovery and learning.
We ensured the programme was fully inclusive and accessible to all master’s students by creating a dedicated site that provides a variety of additional and co-curricular opportunities. Each semester features two intensive weeks launching with a career conference and closing with a celebration evening.
The career conference offers an excellent opportunity to network with employers and connect with our alumni, providing a platform to build new friendships that in turn boost engagement. The annual awards evening brings students together in a formal setting to celebrate, with the city’s heritage providing the backdrop for the occasion. Students are selected to perform music and dance, share personal journeys, and reflect on their development throughout the year.
Cultural influences informing design
We recognised that, although essential, mainstream careers support on its own wasn’t enough to sustain engagement across our postgraduate cohort. Given the wide range of nationalities and courses, we wanted to reflect what they all had in common – a story to tell and a relationship with the city itself.
We were keen to create a stronger sense of belonging and celebrate the richness of our students’ cultural identities. We also aimed to help them connect with the heritage and culture of the city. We appreciated that the experience of international students varies significantly, so we wanted to find a way of harnessing this diverse cultural tapestry to help students develop employability skills.
At the heart of Enhance is a unique combination of traditional careers support framed by opportunities for students to share their traditions and personal stories. Enhance brings together mainstream career staples such as skills development, employer engagement and experiential learning with a chance to celebrate cultural heritage; developing a strong sense of community and showcasing the vibrancy of our international cohort alongside that of a city with a unique sense of identity.
Our peer-led Heritage and Culture celebration event invites students from different backgrounds to form teams and access a small, allocated budget to create a celebration of their heritage. This experience provides a distinctive employability opportunity: students collaborate as a team, manage resources, and develop a showcase and presentation for their peers. Celebrations take many forms, including traditional food, dance, cultural storytelling and traditional dress. Winning teams are nominated to attend the Enhance awards evening and showcase their journey.
We also wanted to weave Liverpool’s rich heritage and culture into the Enhance programme by hosting events in venues that are part of the city’s identity. Our Careers Conference takes place at landmark locations such as Aintree Racecourse, while mock assessment centre experiences are held at the home of Liverpool Football Club - Anfield Stadium.
Delivering at scale
A key challenge we face is balancing the prominence of diverse cultural perspectives with the need for scalable approaches. We wanted a staple that held it all together, so established a guaranteed offer of an industry placement through strong collaborative partnerships.
Opportunities are designed to cater to a range of interests and include regional internships with SMEs in partnership with our central careers team alongside global and UK-based industry projects delivered with Practera. For our Chinese students, we offer internships returning home through our partners at mShare. The aim is to provide our postgraduate cohort with a portfolio of experiential learning opportunities that reflect different backgrounds and levels of experience as well as professional aspirations.
Adding to this blend of culture and scalable solutions are subject-specific co-curricular options designed to accelerate students’ professional growth while tapping into the city’s history. Alongside earning valuable qualifications like the Six Sigma Green Belt, Operations and Supply Chain Management students also get to visit Cammell Laird Shipbuilders, offering a distinctive mix of professional certification and exposure to a key piece of local heritage.
Additionally, students are encouraged to engage in activities that promote enjoyment and boost their wellbeing. Those who have collaborated in teams for career purposes are also invited to take part in a Liverpool Georgian Quarter treasure hunt and are invited to attend evening social events with a local theme, such as the renowned Price of Football podcast, featuring local celebrity guests.
Programme impact and outcomes
472 unique students have engaged with Enhance activities a total of 1526 times in the 2025/26 academic year, and 93% of participants agree or strongly agree that it has helped them feel ready to take the next step in their career journey. An MSc Marketing student shared that the programme “will undoubtedly inform my professional life going forward”.
We feel Enhance offers a transformative, scalable, and innovative offer that has reshaped postgraduate employability support at ULMS. Culturally informed and timetable-free, Enhance empowers students to build confidence, gain meaningful experiences and celebrate their personal journey and relationship with the city.
As a result, our graduates leave not only better equipped to thrive in a competitive global employment landscape, but also with a strong sense of belonging—strengthening the likelihood that they will stay connected as alumni and continue to support activities.
To quote an MSc Business Analytics & Big Data alumnus: “Being part of the Enhance Programme was a turning point for me, and it’s really meaningful to now contribute and support the next cohort on their journey.”