The Role of Academic Accreditation in Guiding Saudi Universities to Respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution Receivables

The current study aims to identify the academic accreditation role in directing the Saudi universities to respond to 4thInternational Revolution Receivables. This study is based on the mixed method (quantitative and qualitative), and two tools are used to collect data: questionnaire, and interview. The questionnaire is designed to have 20 paragraphs distributed into four aspects. After approving the questionnaire reliability and credibility, it was distributed on a sample of (170) faculty members working in the scope of quality and academic accreditation in governmental universities at Riyadh city for the academic year of (20192020). The study results show a clear identification of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Receivables in the higher education domain.The results also show the adequacy of accreditation standards in their theoretical dimension, but in practice the reality of universities are in need of more attention. The qualitative results had valuable additions, in clarifying the reasons for the gap between theory and practice related to academic accreditation standards. As well as clarifying the constraints reducing the effectiveness of this role. In light of the mixed results, the study set particular recommendations that aim to increase the role of the academic accreditation in directing Saudi universities to respond to the 4thInternational Revolution Receivables.