University of Liverpool graduate Alex Turner looks at what some city students have achieved

EVERY year, thousands of ambitious students graduate from the city’s universities with dreams of success and achievement within their chosen field.

While many enjoy success following their chosen path, there are some who have gone on to make their mark beyond the boundaries of their subject or place. Others go on to achieve things in areas that they could never have envisaged when they received their degree certificate.

This year is arguably the most difficult for graduates to enter the world of work, with companies’ graduate trainee programmes shrunk or cancelled, and the jobs market at its least buoyant for many years.

The findings of the UK Graduate Careers Survey 2010 – the result of more than 16,000 interviews with final-year students – showed those about to leave university were very gloomy about their immediate employment prospects, fearing competition from the Class of 2009 who failed to find work 12 months ago.

But the constrained job market may force creative solutions – and could ultimately lead to a career that sees them one day join their university’s list of prominent alumni.

Liverpool students have gone on to make their mark in a range of fields – and business and the professions is no exception.

The five graduates highlighted on the right are not necessarily the most successful five, but their careers and influence give a flavour of the diversity of experience, both in terms of sectors and global reach.

They are not alone, with former Liverpool students influential from Dubai to Detroit, and plenty of places in between.

For example, Sir Maurice Flanagan read history and English at the University of Liverpool, then stints with British Overseas Airways Corporation and British Airways culminated in him co-founding Dubai-based airline Emirates in 1985.

He is still vice-chairman of the group, and this month received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

While Sir Maurice has spent his career in the stratosphere, four wheels have been enough for the Widnes-born son of a car dealer to enjoy a high-speed career.

Lewis Booth graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1970 with a degree in mechanical engineering, which taught him one thing in particular.

He said: “The whole university experience was great – but it made me realise I didn’t want to be an engineer.”

The chartered management accountant worked at British Leyland before he joined Ford in 1978 and progressed through the ranks, heading operations in the UK, Germany and South Africa before relocating to the United States in 1992. He has been the chief financial officer at Ford since 2008.

One alumnus whose degree laid the foundations for his future success was electronics graduate Sir Robin Saxby.

He had chosen to study in the city “because it was the most exciting place in the UK”. As well as his degree, he says he also left with “Liverpool grit”, which was acquired from putting on rock concerts at university.

Sir Robin made his fortune after founding ARM Holdings, a Cambridge-based semi-conductor company, in 1990. He stepped down as chairman four years ago of the company which today is worth £3.8bn and employs 1,700 people.

Politics has always been in the city’s blood – and Liverpool Hope University alone lays claim to former Liberal MP Lord Alton, recently-retired Labour MP Peter Kilfoyle and the former leader of Liverpool City Council and ex-Lord Mayor, Cllr Mike Storey.

Two current nationally-prominent politicians also went to university in the city. Ieuan Wyn Jones, leader of Plaid Cymru and Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government, studied law at Liverpool John Moores University.

UK Independence Party chairman Paul Nuttall MEP read history at Edge Hill before getting an MA, also in history, from Edge Hill.

Having a degree, though, is not a requirement for a successful career in business. An admittedly-unscientific sample of the last 50 people to have been the subject of the LDP Business profile interview – who are people running companies with a turnover of more than £3m – shows that degree-level qualified people are less common than might be expected.

The highest educational qualification of 36 people in the sample were O-levels, A-levels or equivalent vocational qualifications. Of the remainder, only eight had degrees, while six had a post-graduate qualification, which included five MBAs.

One former University of Liverpool law student who didn’t get to wear his graduation gown said he has no regrets about not completing his studies.

Journalist and Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow was rusticated for his part in the student occupation of Senate House in 1970 against the University’s investments in apartheid South Africa.

In an interview earlier this year, marking the 40th anniversary of the protests, he said it stopped him from becoming “an extremely mediocre and wonky lawyer”.

“I am grateful to Liverpool more than I can say,” he said. “Being sent down was the best thing that ever happened to me.”