The world of work is changing rapidly, and addressing these changes in meaningful ways is a topic of immense interest to educators, policymakers and the general public. Higher education is being asked to produce graduates with everything from hard skills to soft skills, self-awareness to intercultural competencies, field-specific knowledge to transversal talents, local insights to global sensitivities. The list of ideal graduate attributes is broad in both scope and complexity, all of which presents enormous challenges and exciting opportunities for the (international) higher education sector. This issue of Forum seeks to provide a range of insights into what the call for 'employability for the 21st century' means to international higher education professionals across Europe and beyond.