Graduate capabilities and the future of work: it all comes down to <i>GRIT</i>

In a rapidly changing global workforce, reshaped by Future of Work dynamics including AI adoption, automation, and transforming employability skills by 2030, universities face pressure to equip graduates with capabilities beyond disciplinary expertise for sustained global employability. This study analyses graduate capability statements from 41 Australian universities using Gioia methodology to derive an integrated framework comprising four meta-capabilities: Global, Responsible, Innovative, and Technological (GRIT). The GRIT framework reveals how diverse capabilities converge into a coherent structure connecting employability theory with the capability approach, emphasising graduates’ agency, adaptability and lifelong learning. The forward-looking framework embeds the 26 skills identified by the World Economic Forum Jobs of the Future 2025 report and redefines employability as the capacity to ethically navigate AI-integrated environments, creatively solve complex problems, harness emerging technologies, and operate responsibly across diverse and disrupted global contexts. By offering conceptual clarity and practical utility as a curriculum-mapping tool, the GRIT framework advances theoretical understanding and provides a flexible, sector-wide meta-structure for synthesising existing graduate capability statements and informing future curriculum renewal.