From principles to practice: Universal design in higher education—A systematic review

Abstract

Inclusive education aims to ensure equal opportunities for all learners, and Universal Design (UD) offers practical and actionable principles to support this goal. As higher education increasingly embraces both physical and digital inclusive learning environments, there is a growing need to understand how UD is implemented and evaluated in these contexts. This systematic literature review, conducted according to PRISMA guidelines, synthesizes findings from 16 empirical studies and reviews published between 2013 and 2023. The review identifies a variety of inclusive actions, such as offering multimodal learning materials, designing flexible assessments and integrating accessible technologies. These approaches illustrate the adaptability of UD principles and their relevance across disciplines and modalities. The study confirms that UD can be an effective, holistic framework for designing inclusive higher education environments. However, clear causal links between specific UD-informed actions and their corresponding outcomes are still lacking, making it difficult to assess which principles drive particular results. Furthermore, not all UD principles are addressed equally, with more emphasis placed on easily implementable aspects while others remain underexplored. These gaps point to a need for greater integration of UD across institutional levels, as well as for interdisciplinary collaboration. This review not only maps current practices but also identifies critical contextual and methodological blind spots and offers a future research agenda. It further proposes nine priority components for advancing inclusive higher education through UD, supporting teachers, researchers and policymakers alike.