Overview
- .university is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) intended for entities connected to higher education, research, training and education-related services.
- The string was applied for under ICANN's New gTLD Program by Donuts (Little Station, LLC). The applicant described the TLD as a way to facilitate search, self-expression and identity for institutions and individuals associated with universities.
History
- Applicant: Donuts (Little Station, LLC).
- Contract signed: Donuts received a Registry Agreement with ICANN on 06 March 2014.
- Delegation: .university was delegated to the DNS Root Zone on 11 April 2014, completing the successful application.
- During evaluation the application received a GAC Early Warning from Australia and the GAC Chair (Heather Dryden) noting concerns that the string refers to a regulated market and that the applicant had not provided adequate consumer-protection measures.
Usage and Audience
- Intended audience per the applicant:
- Institutions of higher education and research (post-secondary institutions, faculties, students, staff).
- Organizations, departments, contractors or other entities involved in training, education or research (examples cited by the applicant include non-degree training providers or business departments such as "contractors.university").
- The applicant positioned .university as broadly useful to registrants with legitimate connections to higher-education activity, aiming to increase consumer choice in the namespace.
Registration Rules
- Donuts' stated policy approach:
- Favor open, inclusive registration policies rather than strict eligibility restrictions.
- No exclusive ownership or blanket preclusion of second-level names for any single entity or group.
- Commitments to an array of protections against abuse, including trademark protections and other rights-protection mechanisms; the applicant claimed nearly two dozen new rights and protection mechanisms developed with input from law enforcement, consumer privacy advocates and intellectual property stakeholders.
- The applicant stated it will not "artificially deny access" on the basis of identity alone without legal cause.
- Note: The source provides the applicant's policy positions and commitments but does not list explicit technical registration details such as minimum/maximum registration periods or allowed character sets.
SEO and Brand Impact
- The applicant described .university as a generic, descriptive string that can help with search, self-expression and clearer online identities for educational institutions and related actors.
- Donuts claimed it would operate the TLD with enhanced protections to reduce fraud and abuse, positioning .university as a trustworthy, education-focused namespace relative to incumbent TLDs.
- These statements reflect the applicant's intended brand positioning; no independent search-engine treatment or metrics are provided in the source.
Operator
Binky Moon, LLC
Whois
% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object
domain: UNIVERSITY
organisation: Binky Moon, LLC
address: c/o Identity Digital Limited
address: 10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address: Bellevue WA 98004
address: United States of America (the)
contact: administrative
name: Vice President, Engineering
organisation: Identity Digital Limited
address: 10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address: Bellevue WA 98004
address: United States of America (the)
phone: +1.425.298.2200
fax-no: +1.425.671.0020
e-mail: tldadmin@identity.digital
contact: technical
name: Senior Director, DNS Infrastructure Group
organisation: Identity Digital Limited
address: 10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750
address: Bellevue WA 98004
address: United States of America (the)
phone: +1.425.298.2200
fax-no: +1.425.671.0020
e-mail: tldtech@identity.digital
nserver: V0N0.NIC.UNIVERSITY 2a01:8840:16:0:0:0:0:19 65.22.20.19
nserver: V0N1.NIC.UNIVERSITY 2a01:8840:17:0:0:0:0:19 65.22.21.19
nserver: V0N2.NIC.UNIVERSITY 2a01:8840:18:0:0:0:0:19 65.22.22.19
nserver: V0N3.NIC.UNIVERSITY 161.232.10.19 2a01:8840:f4:0:0:0:0:19
nserver: V2N0.NIC.UNIVERSITY 2a01:8840:19:0:0:0:0:19 65.22.23.19
nserver: V2N1.NIC.UNIVERSITY 161.232.11.19 2a01:8840:f5:0:0:0:0:19
ds-rdata: 40537 8 2 674e5d0fc3d6a5ee42486211ce3be970a6b6dde79ba48553732c1a929715302e
whois: whois.nic.university
status: ACTIVE
remarks: Registration information: https://www.identity.digital/
created: 2014-04-03
changed: 2023-09-12
source: IANA
Registrars