Neoliberal capitalism has faced severe criticism both in principle and in practice since the Lehman Shock in 2008. The purpose of the paper is to identify and explain how the current mode of neoliberal capitalism redefines and reshapes the societal roles of the university sector in neoliberal capitalist societies, notably the UK and the US in the post-credit crunch period. The paper examines capital-labour relations in relation to the concept of capitalism, which is then interpreted in the context of the socio-economic roles of the universities. This paper argues that the 2008 financial crisis per se has not removed government expectation of the economic role of the universities, which has been shaped in government neoliberal policy and practice over three decades and lately developed in relation to the discourse of the knowledge economy. The effect of 2008 was rather the rise of ontological insecurity, the loss of credibility in degrees and awareness on problematic graduates' transition from university to work in a secure, managerial or professional occupation, as new dominant political discourses such as 'lost generation', 'youth unemployment' and 'living wage' suggest. This paper clarifies the differences between higher education access and graduate employment opportunities.