The Impact of Crises on Design Education Efficiency in Gulf Universities

This study explores the impact of the crises on architectural and design education in the Arab region. It focuses on the dramatic effect of crises on students' learning outcomes in core courses in two Gulf universities. The study comprises two sections. The first is a theoretical background based on a comprehensive literature review to ensure the global relevance of this research, and the second is a statistical analysis of data collection. The statistical analysis compared the means of the student's grades for the learning outcome variables of the courses before and after COVID-19. It examined whether the students achieved the course's learning outcomes during the crises. The researchers selected the academic years 2018–2019 for collecting the data before the crisis, and the academic year 2020–2021, during the crisis. The first course results show a significant difference between the two means of skill module variables during and after COVID-19. The results confirm the negative impact of the crises on the efficiency of students taking practical courses requiring higher skill levels. In contrast, the results of the second course show a major difference among the two means of values module variables during and after COVID-19. The results confirm the negative impact of the crises on the efficiency of students in developing their communication methods for improving their work. The results confirm that despite the successful measures taken to reduce the risks of crises by the two universities, to remedy the adverse effects resulting from it, higher education requires the development of a short-term risk management plan within the next two years and the development of a long-term plan for any future surprises. That affects the efficiency of architectural education and design in the labor market to eliminate any future adverse effects on the graduation attributes of fresh graduates of Architecture and Design. The plan should focus on practical activities, training students on risk management, and practicing professionalism.