In the knowledge-based society the attention of Higher Education (HE) Institutions is increasingly focused on the positions their graduates attain in the world of work and society. This opens up a number of issues. One of the most important is the potential for competence development in HE. It is important to know what competences are needed for successful entry into the labour market, better employability and active citizenship, how these competences are related to characteristics of jobs and firms, to what extent higher education graduates possess these competences, and to what extent HE provides these competences. The most crucial question is how graduates and employers deal with discrepancies between acquired and required competences. Without empirically based data that address most of these issues, any accountable strategy development seems unfeasible. In the first phase this project seeks to provide empirically based answers to the questions posed above. Secondly, it aims to incorporate relevant findings into recommendations for continuous modernisation strategies and curriculum organisation. Several interrelated activities will be undertaken in order to attain these goals. The project will implement a quantitative survey among graduates (4-5 years after graduation). This large-scale survey will be based on the existing survey of the REFLEX network, which already conducted a comparable survey in 16 other (mainly EU) countries. In addition to the survey among graduates, a complementary evaluation survey will be carried out among employers and representatives from higher education institutions, with emphasis on what employers expect from graduates and HE institutions. The results of the three surveys (graduates, HE institutions and employers) will be the main input for the empirically based development of recommendations for instruments and strategies needed for modernising and organising HE curricula. This encompasses both general and specific recommendations for the organisation of teaching practices, cooperation with enterprises, integration of research activities, development of instruments for quality assurance and monitoring, development of university career centres,