In common with the United States, Europe is currently experiencing a serious economic recession. The crisis, which started in the financial sector, is now rippling out and affecting heavily other economic sectors: construction, property, retailing, manufacturing, etc. The arguable cause of the crisis was a failure of management in financial institutions, whose lack of oversight and understanding of complex financial instruments eventually led to a systemic crisis that destroyed the values of enterprises (Geithner). Countries in Europe, including the United Kingdom, bought into this model just as much as the US. In this article, the author talks about a serious economic recession in Europe and the challenges for universities that stem in part from the employability of graduates. He examines European initiatives, university-business cooperation, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer, and the role of continuing education to engage creatively with the private sector, as in work-based learning (WBL) initiatives and high-level skills development.