The challenges of higher education: Improving graduates' employability and social cohesion

This article describes how higher education (HE) can contribute to the economic and social empowerment of young graduates, which will drive innovation and socio-economic devel-opment, and social and cultural change in Europe. We propose that the concept of compe-tence should be enriching with the integration of the professional, social, cultural and political aspects. We suggest that improving HE graduates' competencies and capabilities will affect their self-perception and status, and increase their employability, income and wealth, life suc-cess, resources, mental and physical energy, and social relations and encourage engaged citi-zenship, all of which will shape individual living conditions.The research for this paper was conducted as part of the research project ref. EDU- 2013-45177-R ‘Education, Employability and Empowerment of the Youth’ (3E4Youth), funded by the National R&D Program of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.Peer Reviewe