Women’s University in Africa Becomes First in Africa to Introduce Universal Acceptance into Its Curriculum

The Women’s University in Africa is the first higher education institution on the continent to formally introduce Universal Acceptance (UA) into its academic curriculum, under the auspices of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

This milestone is the result of ongoing collaboration under the Increasing UA Readiness in Academic Institutions in Africa project, an initiative under the Coalition for Ditial Africa’s meaningful connectivity focus area, which seeks to embed UA and Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) curriculum within university programmes. Beyond curriculum development, the project also encourages higher education institutions across the continent to ensure their own digital ecosystems – including email systems and websites – are fully UA-compliant, thereby fostering a more inclusive and accessible Internet.

The UA curriculum comprises twelve comprehensive modules covering UA fundamentals, software internationalization, IDNs, and Email Address Internationalization (EAI). These topics are central to realizing a truly multilingual Internet, enabling billions of users worldwide to navigate the digital space in their native scripts and languages.

With the signing of the initiative’s agreement and integration of the UA Curriculum into its ICT programmes, the Women’s University in Africa (WUA) joins a select group of three other academic institutions globally that are actively advancing UA education.  These are – the American University of Bahrain (AUBH), Universidad Modelo in Mexico, and Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology (SRIT) in India. This development also signals growing momentum across the region, as several other African universities remain in active discussions with the AAU to formalize similar commitments.

Faculty members from WUA have already undergone specialized training designed to build institutional capacity and equip them with the technical and pedagogical expertise needed to deliver the curriculum effectively. This capacity-building component ensures that the integration of UA content is both sustainable and impactful.

As part of the Coalition for Digital Africa’s Meaningful Connectivity focus area, the increasing UA Readiness in Academic Institutions in Africa initiative reflects the shared commitment of AAU and ICANN to strengthen digital capacity and UA readiness across African higher education. By embedding UA into higher education, the partnership is helping prepare a new generation of digital professionals to build more inclusive, multilingual, and globally compatible digital systems, reinforcing the principle that the Internet should work for all communities, regardless of language or script.