Integrating universal design and accessibility into computer science curricula: A review of literature and practices in Europe

Abstract

The absence of accessibility in many ICT systems and products indicates insufficient accessibility competence among designers, developers and project managers. Higher education institutions play an important role in raising awareness and competence and in preparing universal design and digital accessibility specialists. Although many universities are teaching accessibility as part of the biomedical, special education and disability studies programmes, few provide accessibility education in technical specialisations such as computer science. By combining literature review and manual search and inspection we aim at investigating the state of the art in integrating universal design and digital accessibility into the curricula of computer sciences-related programmes.