Purpose: This study aims to explore a specific case of the alleged mismatch between higher education and employability by investigating long-term work life outcomes for graduates from a small university college in Sweden, and the associations between these outcomes and the graduates' social background, academic achievements and study approach in terms of labour market orientation and agency in studying.

Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on longitudinal data from initially 2,072 students from bachelor's degree programmes in 2007-2012. They were surveyed continuously throughout the programmes and then in 2020. Classification and regression tree (CRT) analyses were conducted to identify which subgroups within the population based on the independent variables (e.g. students' background and study orientation) that were associated with the dependent variables (work life outcomes).

Findings: Neither graduates' social background nor their academic achievement and study approach was associated with employment rate or income. Some dimensions of high labour market orientation and agency in studying were positively associated with holding a senior position at work. Several aspects of high levels of agency and labour market orientation were positively associated with subjective work life outcomes, such as for example perceived mastery of work.

Originality/value: This study contributes to further understanding of alleged mismatches between higher education and employability by using longitudinal data from a university college in a country with low graduate unemployment rates and low earnings dispersions. © 2024, Anders Nelson, Andreas Ivarsson and Marie Lydell.