Introduction to the Graduate Capital Model
Find out more about the Graduate Capital Model and the 5 Capitals.
The Graduate Capital Model was originally created by Dr Michael Tomlinson, Associate Professor, in the School of Education. It builds on his extensive research in the field of employability. Careers and Employability have adapted the model to meet the needs of students at the University of Southampton by creating a set of learning outcomes suited to our students.
Tomlinson defines capitals as ‘key resources that confer benefits and advantages in the labour market’ (2016). Importantly for us, Dr Tomlinson thinks that there is scope for capitals to be reflected upon and developed to better serve students during and after their education.
There are five capitals in Tomlinson’s model: Human Capital, Social Capital, Cultural Capital, Psychological Capital and Identity Capital.
Making use of the Graduate Capital Model
Help students to develop lifelong skills.
The Career Readiness Test
An online test for students to assess their career readiness in line with the Graduate Capital Model learning outcomes.
Published article
Article published in Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education on the development of a psychometric tool to operationalise the Graduate Capital Model.
To find out more and make use of the Graduate Capital Model and the Career Readiness Test, please contact:
We welcome comments and feedback about the content and application of the materials from colleagues at the University of Southampton and beyond.
All use of these materials should be fully acknowledged as the Intellectual Property of the University of Southampton. The original concept being Dr Michael Tomlinson's (Tomlinson, M.B. (2017) 'Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate employability', Education + Training Vol.59 Issue:4, pp338-352) and subsequent material including the Learning Outcomes and Career Readiness Test being created by Mccafferty and Port (2017).