Developing graduate employability and career-readiness is increasingly prioritised across Australian universities including the G8 coalition of Australia’s world-leading research-intensive universities.

Creating and reporting evidence of graduate employability and career-readiness experiences (GRACES) are now key measures of educational value, impact, and social responsibility for the contemporary university and their staff and students (prospective and current).

GRACES straddle the spectrum of work-integrated learning from internships to industry engagement and in-class work-relevant skill development (such as group work and presentations or report writing) with the conventional rigours of research-led teaching.

Embedding and developing GRACES in the contemporary research-intensive university is a particular challenge, especially given the differential capacities (including prestige legacies, soft and hard infrastructures, perceptions, and expectations of universities) of leadership, staff, students, and external stakeholders).

The aim of the current research is to champion G8 universities to be nimble, pragmatic, and responsive (rather than reactive) to this pressing educational priority.

Specifically, the project aspires for UWA and USQ to be responsive by leading and embedding transformational education capacities that will achieve meaningful work-integrated learning and employability experiences for staff and students as well as for potential employers and wider society.