Data-Driven Decision Making in International Education
The University at Albany’s International Education Leadership Expert Series presents a module with Dr. Yusuf Joseph Ugras focusing on the use of financial and quantitative data to make better informed institutional decisions, drawing upon examples from international education operations and programs.
May 23, 2023 – June 15, 2023
Registration Fee: $399

About the module
This course focuses on decision making in the international education environment. During the course we will examine financial as well as qualitative data that an international education leader would need for the decisions being considered including risks that need to be considered in each decision. We will examine international education scenarios and explore the type of data that would be needed to arrive to a decision.
Some of the decisions international education leaders face relate to: international site operations and branch campuses, evaluation of program abroad continuation or elimination, special pricing and incentives for a partner institution, outsourcing of the services including using agents for international recruitment. In addition to financial and qualitative factors, the course will relate ethical issues to the decisions.
Successful participants will receive a digital micro-credential acknowledging their completion of this professional development expert module from the International Education Management & Leadership Program at the University at Albany (SUNY).

Expert Series Presenter
Dr. Yusuf Joseph Ugras
We will be utilizing the following open access site for learning the decision making content: https://maaw.info/
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Able to identify factors to include in decision making in international education decisions.
- Prepare contribution margin analysis.
- Calculate the financial impact of the decisons being considered.
- Evaluate the qualitative factors in each decision.
- Assess risks in each decision being considered including black swan event possibilities and how to plan for them
- Recommend decisions based on analytical data and supporting methodologies.
- Evaluate data for decisions such as adding/dropping an international site, adding/discontinuing a program abroad, special pricing for customized program for a partner institution, outsourcing some of the services including using agents for international recruitment.
Decision Analysis Scenarios – Four Written Analyses due in weeks 2-5
During the class we will analyze 4 international education decisions. The decisions will be related to the content being considered for that week. For each decision, the students are expected to submit a PDF document that includes the following components:
- Description of the problem.
- Assumptions for the decision.
- Data needed for the decision.
- Quantitative analysis process for the decision analysis.
- Qualitative factors to be considered for the analysis.
- Risks in the decision and approaches for mitigating for the risks.
Each PDF document is to be submitted by Sunday (end of day EST).
Expert Series Design structure
Participants will receive 7.5 hours of synchronous sessions with the instructor. The synchronous sessions will include the following 5 meetings of 1.5 hours each via Zoom (UAlbany).
Synchronous Sessions:
- Tuesday, May 23 – 4:30pm – 6pm EDT (GMT-4)
- Thursday, May 25 – 4:30pm – 6pm EDT (GMT-4)
- Tuesday, May 30 – 4:30pm – 6pm EDT (GMT-4)
- Tuesday, June 6 – 4:30pm – 6pm EDT (GMT-4)
- Thursday, June 15 – 4:30pm – 6pm EDT (GMT-4)
Instructions for connecting to synchronous sessions and accessing the online material will be provided after registration.
Registration Fee: $399
15% Discount on registration for SUNY employees.