.university

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.

% 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 Inc.
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 Inc.
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:      c/o Identity Digital Inc.
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:        

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://www.identity.digital/

created:      2014-04-03
changed:      2025-10-07
source:       IANA