A Data-Informed Governance Model for Enhancing Institutional Decision-Making and Effectiveness at Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University

Abstract

Universities now possess more data than ever, yet greater data volume does not automatically produce better decisions. The decisive issue is governance: who defines institutional questions, which data are trusted, how evidence is interpreted, how professional judgement enters deliberation and whether decisions are later evaluated. This study develops a data-informed governance model tailored to Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU). It combines an integrative review of research on higher education governance, data governance, analytics, quality assurance and organisational learning with a qualitative analysis of public PSAU strategic and organisational documents current to 21 August 2026. The analysis identifies important enabling assets, including a strategic commitment to quality and continuous development, a Data and AI Office, a Business Intelligence Unit, a Statistical Studies and Decision Support Administration, an Institutional Excellence Unit, open-data commitments, enterprise-architecture work and a 2026-2028 digital transformation strategy. Public documents, however, do not demonstrate an end-to-end routine linking priority questions, shared definitions, validated evidence, deliberation, implementation and learning. The proposed PSAU Data-Informed Governance Model addresses this coordination challenge through six stages: framing the decision, assembling trusted evidence, analysing and contextualising findings, deliberating and deciding, implementing and monitoring action, and evaluating outcomes. Decision rights, stewardship, privacy, ethical review, data literacy and change leadership operate across the cycle. The term data-informed is deliberate: university decisions require contextual knowledge, academic judgement and attention to values alongside quantitative evidence. A phased roadmap, governance-role matrix and evaluation framework are provided.