This paper explores the link between graduates ‘employability’ and university-business cooperation – two major pillars of higher education’s labour market orientation policies in Europe. Based on selected studies, the paper develops and discusses several own conceptual frameworks. In the conclusion, it offers future research recommendations on studying the relationship between career success and university-business cooperation. It calls in particular for a stronger focus on SMEs and ‘average’ universities, compares similarities and differences among study fields and economic sectors, while explaining cooperation as an economic necessity versus a developmental opportunity and the hybridisation of academic professions.