In this paper, the role of three different types of competences in the labour market for higher education graduates is investigated. The article distinguishes discipline‐specific competences, general academic competences and management competences, the first being an example of competences acquired at school, which are of direct use in the labour market, the second being a type of competences also acquired in school, but which fulfil an indirect role by facilitating the acquisition of new competences after graduation from school, and the third, management competences, being an example of competences acquired mainly in a working context and, like discipline‐specific competences, being of direct use in that context. This paper shows that, first, the level of discipline‐specific competences obtained in higher education offers a comparative advantage for graduates working inside the own discipline‐specific domain, and therefore has a pay‐off for those graduates who are able to find a job in this domain; second, the management competences are valued in the labour market but seem to be more likely acquired in a working context than in higher education, and third, the general academic competences acquired in higher education do not pay off directly, but have a significant supportive role when learning competences that have a direct pay‐off in the labour market, like management competences, but are more likely acquired outside education.

This chapter describes a new conceptual model for measuring competencies of higher education graduates.The proposed instrument can become a valuable tool for higher education quality management, policy evaluation, and scientific research. Measuring Competencies of Higher Education Graduates Jim Allen, Ger Ramaekers, Rolf van der VeldenIn this chapter, we take the first step toward developing a new conceptual model for measuring competencies of higher education graduates. Before outlining the model, we first look into the main reasons for needing information about higher education graduates' competencies. Subsequently, we present a brief sketch of some important theoretical and empirical work on the nature and importance of different kinds of competencies. We then outline the basic elements of the model and provide a brief description of how the data generated by our research instrument can be used in practice. Since this new model is a work in progress, we conclude with some reflections of what still needs to be done to make the new approach practical and useful to those concerned with graduates' competencies.

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