At the turn of a new decade, employability looks set to remain a central, if contested, topic in higher education policy and practice. In an unprecedented period of intensive academic discussion and policy development around teaching excellence and graduate outcomes, employability is a key concept in differentiating the value of higher education in supporting graduates to succeed and flourish in the labour market and beyond.

In the face of this complex and fast-changing picture, we are delighted to curate Enhancing Graduate Employability: a case study compendium – a collection of case studies for Advance HE members including a case study “Acting up for graduate interview success: a forum theatre approach” by Jackie McManus and Cathy Taylor from the UWL Careers Team.

Presented under the three broad groupings of New Forms of Employer Engagement, Applying Frameworks and Models, and Curricular and Pedagogic Innovations, the compendium offers readers the opportunity to learn and collaborate with colleagues from a range of HEIs and gain insight into a wide range of employability initiatives and activities being undertaken across the sector in the UK and beyond.

Some of the models, methodologies and interventions presented in the compendium may be novel per se; others may be novel within a particular discipline or context. It is our hope that both as models of current practice and as exemplars which may be productive of further discussion, debate and innovation, these case studies will go some way to suggest emerging directions for enhancing graduate employability at the start of the third decade of the 21st century.