Higher education has experienced multifaceted changes in recent decades and is under pressure not only to provide graduates with skills that fit economic and labor market imperatives, but also to actively contribute to social and economic development. This pressure arises especially from the significant expansion of higher education worldwide, and the underlying argument that a skilled workforce is a driver of economic growth, both for productivity and earnings at the level of individuals, and for resilience and adaptability to economic and technological changes at the country level. The increasing supply of a skilled workforce shows that higher education is responding to economic and social arguments related to human capital theory and the accumulated empirical evidence on the private and social benefits of higher education. However, this has raised a set of questions regarding the responsibility of higher education for the fate of their graduates in the labor market. It is time to discuss the boundaries between what we can expect from higher education and what goes beyond its responsibility. A more nuanced view is needed to understand the role of higher education in guaranteeing access to education and skills, and in the labor market outcomes of graduates.

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