Whatever the epistemological underpinnings and the resulting pedagogies that one adopts for translator education, it is critical that one sets the learning goals adequately. After all, irrespective of whether one follows the lines of the "read-and-translate" methodology, constructivism or emergentism, one needs to know whether the learning outcomes truly equip translation students for their professional lives. With that in mind, a survey was conducted to investigate whether the oft-cited gap between academia and the translation industry continues to exist in two countries: Poland and Ukraine. The research focused on selected components of the models of translator competence proposed by PACTE Group and EMT. This article reports on the findings obtained and sheds light on the extent to which academics' and professionals' views on translator competence within and between the two countries diverge.