From Curriculum to Workplace: Competency Gaps, Digital Readiness, and Graduate Satisfaction in a Ghanaian University Tracer Study

The alignment between graduate competencies and workplace requirements is a central test of curriculum relevance in rapidly changing labour markets. This study develops a publication-oriented secondary analysis of competency and graduate-development indicators contained in the Catholic University of Ghana 2025/2026 tracer-study analytical report. Nine competency domains were examined on a common five-point scale: digital competence, research and data competence, leadership, entrepreneurship, problem solving, adaptability, communication, professional ethics, and teamwork. Aggregate mean scores for competencies developed at university were compared with mean workplace requirements. Gap size, relative deficit, a requirement-weighted curricular priority index, Pearson and Spearman domain-level correlations, an exact Wilcoxon signed-rank test across competency domains, and a gap-concentration index were calculated. Workplace requirements exceeded reported acquisition in all nine domains. The mean domain gap was 0.364 points (SD = 0.163). Digital competence had the largest recalculated gap (0.62), followed by research and data competence (0.51), leadership (0.47), entrepreneurship (0.39), adaptability (0.38), and problem solving (0.37). Required and acquired domain means were strongly correlated (r = .884), indicating that areas valued highly at work were generally also emphasised at university, but the positive gaps demonstrate insufficient intensity in several domains. The requirement-weighted priority index ranked digital competence and research/data capability as the leading curricular priorities. The study argues for authentic digital, analytical, and work-integrated assessment rather than generic skills statements. Before empirical journal submission, all analyses must be regenerated from the verified graduate-level dataset identified in the institutional report’s data-provenance statement.