Crisis management programs in top universities worldwide to maintain educational activities in situational crises: A scoping review

Background: Critical events can cause panic in the university community and raise the question of whether universities can prepare for and respond to these events while effectively maintaining a culture of inclusiveness and free access.

Methods: The current study was conducted based on a scoping review of texts using the Arkesy and O’Malley frameworks and the PRISMA checklist to improve the quality of the report. For this study, crisis management programs at universities and institutes of higher education in all countries of the world within a period of 10 years (2010-2020) were searched using appropriate keywords approved in MeSH and various databases such as Embase, PubMed and Scopus, Proquest, and Iranian SID and Magiran databases. Finally, according to the search parameters, 21 studies were included in the final study, and an output table was extracted.

Results: The goals of university crisis programs when encountering existing accidents and crises are divided into several general categories: planning and creating a framework for dealing with the crisis, continuing to work in times of crisis, communicating in times of crisis, and providing supplies and continuity of training. The next most crucial element in the university crisis program is the formation of a crisis management team.

Conclusion: It is indispensable for students, faculty, and administrators to receive training in crisis management to prevent any possible harm to individuals when dealing with crises in universities. As a result, it is recommended that crisis management officials in universities pay serious attention.