The main goal of the paper is to explore the ways in which employability is featuring the individuals’ motivation to enroll in higher education in order to deepen our knowledge on the reasons and expectations of higher education students. We focus on the graduates’ perceptions, exploring if (and how) employability is a major issue within the set of reasons and expectations that lead an increasing number of individuals to study in higher education, as part of their lifelong learning pathways. The paper draws on statistical data produced by Eurostat and mainly on empirical data concerning undergraduates, masters and PhD students in Portugal. The Portuguese data comes from surveys conducted by several higher education institutions in the country, based on questionnaires answered by higher education students and graduates. The expected outcomes of the paper include the contribution to the debate on the theoretical approaches on the relationship between education and employment, as well as the empirical data concerning employability as a reason to study in higher education. However, we envisage that it could also allow for a deeper understanding on the dynamics of lifelong learning that frame today’s European societies, namely in what concerns higher education contribution to those dynamics.