Smart Administration of Crises and their Economic Effects: A Case Study of the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) at the Saudi Universities

The present research aims to identify the role of smart administration in addressing crises and their economic effects, the role of Saudi universities in facing Coronavirus, and the role of academic leaders in activating smart administration that helps face crises at the Saudi universities throughout the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus. The author adopted the descriptive approach and a questionnaire, consisting of (147) items, was applied to a sample of the Saudi university leaders at Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU), Umm Al-Qura University, King Khalid University, University of Hail, and King Faisal University. The results showed that the degree of businessmen’s satisfaction with electronic economic seminars and conferences was moderate due to the little awareness of the relevant significance of smart administration. Moreover, Corona pandemic revealed the importance of these conferences and seminars, but businessmen were dissatisfied. Furthermore, the university administration was interested in delivering training courses to the personnel of the public relations department, which first handles crises. In addition, the academic leaders instructed faculty members to adopt digital curricula to reduce the educational crisis resulting from the spread of Coronavirus. The research recommends activating smart universities that comply with the environmental changes and empower the personnel to use the advanced technology to meet the requirements of the developmental plans as well as preparing a competent team to manage the university crises and equip its members with the modern technology that helps identify the information relevant to the present and the expected changes.