Abstract—This paper presents the phenomenon of multilingualism becoming the norm rather than the exception in the European Union. It also seeks to describe the correlation between the command of foreign languages and employability. It is evident that the challenges of today's societies when it comes to employability are more and more complex. Thus, it is one of the crucial tasks of higher education to prepare its students to face this kind of complexity, understand its nuances, and have the capacity to adapt effectively to situations that are common in corporations based in the countries belonging to the EU. From this point of view, the assessment of the impact that the command of foreign languages of European university students could have on the numerous business sectors becomes vital. It also involves raising awareness of future professionals to make them understand the importance of mastering communicative skills in foreign languages that will meet the requirements of students' prospective employers. The direct connection between higher education institutions and the world of business also allows companies to realize that they should rethink their recruitment and human resources procedures in order to take into account the importance of foreign languages. This article focuses on the objective of the multilingualism policy developed by the European Commission, which is to enable young people to master at least two foreign languages, which is crucial in their future careers. The article puts emphasis on the existence of a crucial connection between the research conducted in higher education institutions and the business sector in order to reduce current qualification gaps. Keywords—Cross-cultural communication, employability, human resources, language attitudes, multilingualism. I. INTRODUCTION O begin with, it is vital to connect the topic of learning foreign languages by university students with the European Union, since it is strongly believed that all those young people studying at universities in Europe are not only the citizens of their home countries, but they also belong to the community of the EU and their education can certainly contribute to its development. It is also fundamental to describe the correlation between the command of foreign languages and employability. It should be noticed that different skills, such as language, communication, adaptability and critical thinking are regarded as the main attributes that graduates are obliged to have when they intend to enter labour market, especially when professionals are supposed to work with advanced technologies. It is evident that the challenges of today's societies, when it comes to employability and to the reality of the current labour market, are more and more diversified. This paper reviews evidence concerning the foreign language competences of European citizens and presents new findings about the relationship between foreign language skills Paulina Pietrzyk Kowalec is with WSB Warsaw University, Poland (e- mail: biuro@progress.lublin.pl). and the likelihood of being in employment [1]. Thus, it is one of the main tasks of universities to prepare their students to face the current situation on the job market in the member states of the EU. Hence, it is noticeable that job recruiters` requirements focus on the mastery of foreign languages among university students since it ought to be remarked that it has an inevitable impact on business in the EU. Headhunters representing corporations with a strong position on the market are becoming more and more aware of this correlation. Nonetheless, universities tend to be often heavily criticized for not enabling graduates to obtain the so-called real contexts connected with their professional practice. For that reason, it is obvious that one of the crucial issues that constitute the mission of universities is prospective graduates’ employability. Thus, higher education institutions and universities are supposed to make more effort to meet these characterised challenges. Effective strategies that should be adopted to facilitate graduates’ employability are, for example, introducing more availability of vocational language courses, or in case of the universities where it has already been introduced, the number of hours of foreign languages in the curriculum ought to be increased. II. DISCUSSION It is significant to highlight the strong bond between higher education institutions and the world of business, not only in Europe, but in the whole world, especially in the sector of commerce that is dominated by foreign languages, such as English and Mandarin. Therefore, companies based in the EU, especially the future members of our community, which are the so-called developing countries, should rethink their recruitment and HR policy in order to take into account the importance of foreign languages. Academic qualifications and adequate proficiency in foreign languages are vital taking into consideration various fields of career. It regards tourism, diplomatic services, international journalism, mass communication, public relations, entertainment, arts, publishing, interpretation and translation and federal organizations. It also offers the opportunity of working in multinationals corporations and specialized governmental agencies. The focus should be on the goal of the multilingualism policy developed by the European Commission which is to make sure that young people master at least two foreign languages which is crucial in terms of their professional sphere of life. There seems to be a misconception that the command of foreign languages is beneficial only if university students are willing to work in a specific field, such as the education sector. Nonetheless, nowadays graduates need to be aware of the importance of their knowledge of foreign Foreign Languages and Employability in the EU Paulina Pietrzyk-Kowalec T World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Cognitive and Language Sciences Vol:17, No:6, 2023 411 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 17(6) 2023 ISNI:0000000091950263 Open Science Index, Cognitive and Language Sciences Vol:17, No:6, 2023 publications.waset.org/10013138/pdf