REPORT TO THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS Agenda Item #3.3d SUBJECT TUITION PROPOSAL: MASTER OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS (MBAN) MEETING DATE APRIL 14, 2016 Forwarded to the Board of Governors on the Recommendation of the President APPROVED FOR SUBMISSION Martha C. Piper, Interim President and Vice-Chancellor DECISION REQUESTED IT IS HEREBY REQUESTED that the UBC Board of Governors approve the proposed tuition and fees for the new Master of Business Analytics program. Report Date March 21, 2016 Presented By Angela Redish, Provost and Vice-President Academic pro tem Eric Eich, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, Academic Affairs Hugh Brock, Associate-Provost Academic Innovation Robert Helsley, Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration Kin Lo, Senior Associate Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Master of Business Analytics is a one-year, course-based, on-campus professional program that will provide graduates with the skills to apply advanced analytical methods to address management challenges in today s big data business environment. Interested and qualified students will have the option to complete an Analytics Consulting Internship at the end of their program for which they will receive a $10,000 stipend. This is a cost-recovery program to be offered by the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration. Proposed program tuition is $38,000 for domestic students and $50,000 for international students, effective 2017 Winter Session, assessed over three instalments. On acceptance into the program, students will be required to pay a $1,000 non-refundable acceptance deposit to be applied towards their first tuition instalment. INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGIC PRIORITIES SUPPORTED Learning Research Innovation Engagement or Operational (Internal / External) International DESCRIPTION & RATIONALE There is growing need worldwide for highly skilled analytics professionals. Beyond the ability to work with data, organizations are looking for professionals who understand and can apply advanced decision-making tools. These professionals also need to have an understanding of the business context and Template revised: August 2015
Tuition Proposal: Master of Business Analytics must have the communication skills that will ensure that analytics are effectively integrated into the decision-making processes. Graduates of this 1- year program will have the technical skills as well as the business education to deal with the complex business problems that face all organizations. This new program will build on and replace the current Master of Management in Operations Research, which has been identified as being too narrowly focused to serve the growing demand for business analytics professionals. The program will be offered by the Operations and Logistics division and the Marketing and Behavioural Science divisions within the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration. Some courses will be offered in collaboration with the Faculty of Science. The program will be available to students with a broad spectrum of undergraduate degrees. The program will help address the demand for workers skilled in the analysis and interpretation of data. BENEFITS Learning, Research, Financial, Sustainability & Reputational The Master of Business Analytics will support UBC s core commitments to student learning, research excellence, and community engagement. Through rigorous coursework, and professional and career skill development opportunities, students will acquire the knowledge and tools to be effective practitioners and be able to assist organizations make data-driven and analytical decisions. Overall, the program will work to support the economics well-being of organizations in BC, Canada, and the wolrd, by developing a strong base of effective business analysts. The program is cost-recovery and provides an opportunity for UBC to continue to show leadership in business analytics training and research. UBCs s Faculty of Science has proposed to launch a new Master s of Data Science program in September 2016. The Faculties of Commerce and Business Administration and Science are working collaboratively in developing and positioning the two programs. They differ significantly in goals, objectives, structures, and contents and serve two distinct market segements. There has been a rapid increase in analytic programs offered in Canada (Queens, York, Western) however, in BC, no insitution offers a Master of Business Analytics. BCIT recently launched a new Centre of Excellence in Analytics, but no graduate degrees are offered. Simon Fraser University offers a Professional Master s Program in Big Data that does not have a significant overlap with the business analytics focus of the Master of Business Analytics. The University of Victoria offers a 4-month certificate program in business analysis. RISKS Financial, Operational & Reputational There is a financial risk of not recouping investments made in the setup and marketing of the program. The Faculty has have attempted to mitigate this risk through assessments of market demand for the program. The program has been built on many of the features that made the Master of Management in Operations Research a success. The market has been assessed through surveys of UBC undergraduates and employers. Page 2
Tuition Proposal: Master of Business Analytics COSTS Capital & Lifecycle Operating FINANCIAL Funding Sources, Impact on Liquidity The program is cost recovery. Proposed program tuition is $38,000 for domestic students and $50,000 for international students, effective 2017 Winter Session, assessed over three instalments. The tuition was set based on an analysis of the tuition of programs offered by comparable Canadian institutions, while taking account of the provincial context. On acceptance into the program, students will be required to pay a $1,000 nonrefundable acceptance deposit to be applied towards their first tuition instalment. Providing an acceptance deposit encourages good faith acceptance of an offer of admission and will enable the Faculty to allocate resources and plan for courses, instructors, and classrooms accordingly. The $1,000 non-refundable acceptance deposit for this program is in line with other UBC professional programs, such as Master of Management ($1,000), Master of Health Administration ($1,000), and Master of Business Administration ($2,500). As the non-refundable acceptance deposit is part of the proposed program tuition of $38,000 for domestic students and $50,000 for international students, this was not included in student consultations. Tuition and fee details are included in Appendix 1. To attract the best students, a budget of $80,000 has been set aside for scholarships. This amount may be increased with higher enrolments and funding from donors. SCHEDULE Implementation Timeline CONSULTATION Relevant Units, Internal & External Constituencies The program is to launch in September 2017. The following UBC units were consulted: Faculty of Science, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Forestry, School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, and School of Population and Public Health. Approval was received from Senate on March 16, 2016. Consultation with Alma Mater Society (AMS), Graduate Student Society (GSS), International Students Association (ISA) and Commerce Undergraduate Society (CUS) took place over the period between February 15, 2016 and March 15, 2016. The final consultation report is attached. Two approaches were used to assess demand for the Master of Business Analytics. First, the demand of the current Master of Management in Operations Research was considered. This program has been highly successful and has attracted many qualified applicants (109 paid applicants in 2012, 110 in 2013, and 122 in 2014). Secondly, a survey of current undergraduate students was conducted and found: Page 3
Tuition Proposal: Master of Business Analytics 82% had no prior knowledge of a master s programs in business/data analytics, but a plurality (36.7%) expressed an interest in pursuing a professional masters degree in business/data analytics A majority of respondents felt that a professional masters degree in business analytics would be helpful (40.6%) or very helpful (27.1%) in supplementing the students bachelor s degree. An employer survey of 10 senior managers was also conducted and many commented on the difficulty faced in finding qualified candidates to fill analytical roles. Page 4
Appendix 1 Program Tuition and Fee Assessment Details Tuition Proposal: Master of Business Analytics Program Description: Master of Business Analytics (MBAN) Start Date of the Program: 2017 Winter Session Domestic International Program Tuition Fees $38,000.00 $50,000.00 Minimum No. of Instalments 3 3 Amount per Instalment $12,666.67 $16,666.67 Continuing Fees (assessed after 3 instalments) Note 1 $702.87 $702.87 Application Fees Note 2 $135.00 $135.00 Supplement Application Fees Not Applicable Not Applicable Non-Refundable Acceptance Deposit Note 3 $1,000.00 $1,000.00 Other Faculty and Course Fees Not Applicable Not Applicable Note 1 - This is the current standard rate for continuing fees for 2015 winter session and is subject to annual increases. This is proposed to increase by 2% to $716.92 effective May 1, 2016. Note 2 - This is the current standard rate for applications received for 2016 winter session and is subject to annual increases. This is proposed to increase by 2% to $137.50 effective for applications to be received for the 2017 winter session. Note 3 - The non-refundable acceptance deposit will be applied towards the first tuition instalment. Page 5
MASTER OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS (MBAN) STUDENT TUITION CONSULTATION REPORT The Vice-President, Students Office, in partnership with the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, conducted a student consultation regarding the tuition proposal for the Master of Business Analytics (MBAN). This report outlines the consultation process and summarizes student feedback including the student representatives' submission verbatim in Appendix 2. Student Representative Bodies Invited to the Consultation Alma Mater Society (AMS) Graduate Student Society (GSS) UBC International Students Association (ISA) Commerce Undergraduate Students (CUS) Mode of Consultation The consultation consisted of an e-consultation and a face-to-face meeting. Student representative groups were invited to the consultation through email, and asked to distribute the invitation to their constituents as they felt appropriate. Student representative groups were also offered a face-to-face meeting to discuss the tuition proposal. A meeting with student representatives and faculty representatives occurred on March 1 st, 2016 Basis of Consultation: The consultation was based on a tuition proposal and rationale document created by Sauder. Please see Appendix 1 for the invitation and tuition rationale document. Timelines: The e-consultation was conducted over the period of February 15 th 2016 to March 15 th 2016. Summary of Student Feedback: A joint submission was received from the AMS and International Students Association. The verbatim submission is in Appendix 2. Organization Joint Student submission Summary TUITION COMPARATORS: As the program is not aiming for specific enrollment tied to the budget, the fees were set based on comparator institutions. The AMS and ISA believe that these are proper comparators. FINANCIAL AID: The AMS and ISA are supportive of the mix of merit and needs based awards, as well as this being a lower limit of financial aid that will be supplemented should there be larger enrollment in the program, at a rate of 7.47%. An emailed submission was received from the Graduate Student Society stating that: The GSS is in support of both MEL and MHLP tuition (and the Master of Business Analytics tuition. Note: MEL\MHLP is a consultation running concurrently with the Master of Business Analytics.
APPENDIX 1: INVITATION TO CONSULTATION AND TUITION RATIONALE DOCUMENT Good afternoon, There is a proposal by The Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration (Sauder School of Business) to create the Master of Business Analytics Program. In order to inform the program leads and the Board of Governors with regards to the tuition proposal for this program, the University is undertaking a consultative process to get your comments as student representatives, and provide an opportunity for students to provide individual comments on the tuition proposal if they wish. Please note: the scope of this consultation process is limited to the tuition proposal. The consultation will consist of: 1. e-consultation Please find attached a document which outline the details of the tuition proposal, including: an overview of the program, the student consultation that has happened to date, the tuition rationale for the program, and the proposed tuition. Please share the document and this email as you see appropriate. Comments on the tuition proposal and student organization submissions can be provided confidentially to Natasha Moore - Analyst, Vice President Students Office (natasha.moore@ubc.ca). 2. Face to Face meeting If requested by student representatives, we can arrange a face-to-face meeting with the program leads regarding this tuition proposal. Please advise as soon as possible if you would like us to arrange a meeting. THE CONSULTATION PROCESS WILL END ON MARCH 15, 2016 Confidentiality Comments will be collected by the Vice-President Students Office, and only analysts within that office will know the identity of individual students submitting comments. At no time will anyone outside of the Vice President Students Office know the identity of individual students who submit comments to this consultation. Your comments will only be used for the purposes of the tuition consultation. Comments from individual students will be stripped of any identifying information to ensure confidentiality, but otherwise will be provided to the responsible program leads and Board of Governors verbatim. Comments received from student organizations will be reported as coming from those organizations, and provided to the responsible faculty and Board of Governors as received. There will also be a summary report of the consultation developed for the Faculty and Board of Governors. If you have any questions about this process, please contact Natasha Moore (natasha.moore@ubc.ca) (Research Analyst, Vice President Students Office)
NEW PROGRAM TUITION CONSULTATION MASTER OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS PROGRAM OVERVIEW The Master of Business Analytics provides a professional course of study designed to prepare graduates with the skills to apply advanced analytical tools and methods to address management challenges in today s big data business environment. The program includes a minimum of 30 credits. The program is available for full-time study completed within 12 months. Interested and qualified students will have the option to complete an Analytics Consulting Internship at the end of the program. The program is housed within the Robert H. Lee Graduate School in the Sauder School of Business, in collaboration with Faculty of Science s Department of Computer Science at UBC. The planned start date of this proposed program is September 2017. Although not directly related to the tuition costs, it is important to note that the MBAN program is different and complementary to the Master of Data Science (MDS) program that was recently proposed by the Faculty of Science and approved by the Board of Governors. Whereas the MDS program focuses on the earlier part of the data value chain, the MBAN focuses on the latter part of this chain, concluding with business decisions or recommendations. In other words, MDS graduates and MBAN graduates will tend to have different skillsets but they will be able to communicate well with each other because they use a common data-driven framework. STUDENT CONSULTATION DURING THE PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS During the development of the program, the Sauder School consulted with undergraduate students using an online survey to assess the demand for a master s level program in business analytics. In March 2015 over an eight-day period, 207 students responded to the survey. The respondents origins were from Canada (38%) and from outside of Canada (62%). The opinions gathered from students formed part of the input into the tuition rates proposed here. The following findings are of particular relevance to this consultation: Although a substantial majority of respondents (82%) had no prior knowledge of master s programs in business/data analytics, a plurality (36.7%) expressed interest in pursuing a professional masters degree in business/data analytics (followed by an MBA at 29.0%, a non-business program at 15.5%, a professional master s degree in accounting/finance at 11.6%, and other at 7.2%). A majority of respondents felt that a professional masters degree in business analytics would be helpful (40.6%) or very helpful (27.1%) in supplementing the students bachelor s degree. Furthermore, a majority was interested (29%) or very interested (30%) in supplementing their bachelor s degree with a professional master s degree in business analytics. These opinions were provided without indications of tuition levels. With an indicated tuition fee between CAD$40,000 to $50,000, one-fifth was still interested (14.5%) or very interested (5.3%) in pursuing a master s degree in business analytics. TUITION AND FEES RATIONALE The proposed tuition fees were determined based on a number of factors, most significantly the costs to operate the program and tuition fees at comparable programs. Services contributing to program costs: The MBAN program will be have modest class sizes, with initial enrolment forecasted at 30 students, and maximum enrolment capped 60 students. These modest class sizes will allow for a high level of interaction between students and professors.
Contributing toward the cost of the program are some specialized topics such as machine learning, which require professors with a specialized skillset that is in high demand, both in academia and in industry. Also, some classes will be held in labs requiring computer stations and licensed data analytics software. To attract the best students, a budget of $80,000 has been set aside for scholarships. This amount may be increased with higher enrolments and funding from donors. The Sauder School will provide students a high level of career services through its Hari. B. Varshney Business Career Centre. Wages and benefits for an additional staff member has been budgeted to address the career needs of MBAN students. The program also offers an optional Analytics Consulting Internship operated by the Centre of Operations Research that will provided interested and qualified MBAN students opportunities to develop valuable professional skills through experiential learning. The budget needs to support the wages and benefits of a staff member who will secure internship opportunities and coordinate with industry partners. Based on the estimated costs to operate the program, it was determined that the tuition fees proposed below were required to provide sufficient funding for balance budgets at the projected enrolment levels to ensure a sustainable program. Tuition fees at comparable programs: In coming to the proposed tuition levels, we analyzed similar programs within Canada, in the United States, and in the rest of the world. Figure 1 summarizes the tuition rates at a representative sample of programs. All of the programs included in the chart lead to a Master s degree in the field of business analytics, although the specific name differs from one institution to another. Also, all program displayed are 10 to 16 months in duration when taken full-time (longer if taken part-time). Note that business analytics is an emerging field and many institutions have not developed programs in this area, so the basket of post-secondary institutions is not the same as would be for a more broadly offered program such as a Master of Business Administration or a Master of Science. Figure 1: Tuition fees at comparable programs in 2015 (in Canadian Dollars (CAD)) Exchange rates used are USD$0.75/1CAD; GBP0.50/1CAD; SGD1.00/1CAD. Local tuition means domestic tuition, or in the case of the United States, in-state tuition. Data is from Fall 2015.
PROPOSED TUITION AND FEES The proposed tuition fees are $38,000 for domestic students and $50,000 for international students. As can be seen in Figure 2, these rates are within the range of comparable programs. Figure 2 is based on the data shown in Figure 1, but projected forward to 2017 with 5% annual increases. Figure 2: Projected tuition fees at comparable programs in 2017 (in Canadian Dollars (CAD)) Assumes annual increases at 5%. Exchange rates used are USD$0.75/1CAD; GBP0.50/1CAD; SGD1.00/1CAD. Local tuition means domestic tuition, or in the case of the United States, in-state tuition. Similar to other graduate programs, the tuition will be payable in three instalments, as shown in the following table. Other ancillary fees are also shown in this table. Domestic International Program tuition fees $38,000.00 $50,000.00 Minimum number of instalments 3 3 Amount per instalment $12,666.67 $16,666.67 Continuing fees (assessed after 3 instalments) 1 $702.87 $702.87 Application fee $135.00 $135.00 1 Standard continuing fees for 2015W; subject to annual increases.
APPENDIX 2: STUDENT SUBMISSIONS There was one joint submission from the AMS and ISA.