In an era marked by growing digitization, technology has become essential in communication and daily life management. However, inaccessible websites globally, including in Sweden, create significant barriers for individuals with disabilities to interact and use the web with the same ease as others. The issue of inaccessible websites often stems from a lack of awareness among web developers and designers, regarding effective implementations of web accessibility measures. One potential reason for this is insufficient education on the topic. Consequently, this quantitative study investigated the status of web accessibility education within Swedish web development- and interface design programs, to ascertain whether there is a deficiency of education on web accessibility.

The study investigated how web accessibility is integrated into program curricula and assessed students' knowledge of accessibility guidelines and laws that currently regulate the professional web development field in Sweden. Additionally, we investigated the sources from which students acquired their knowledge of accessibility laws and guidelines, aiming to assess the potential impact of their current education on their learning outcomes. Our analysis covered 23 different web development- and interface design programs in Sweden, combined with a quantitative online survey targeting final-year students within those programs.

Our findings indicate that while most programs (18 out of 23) include web accessibility, the level of integration varies greatly, with some programs completely lacking web accessibility learning objectives. Generally, these objectives are offered within existing courses rather than as standalone subjects. Across all the courses in the 23 programs, only 2% offered accessibility learning objectives as a standalone subject, while 7%  incorporated it as part of a course. Consequently, the majority, 91%, of the courses did not include any accessibility learning objectives.

Students' knowledge of accessibility guidelines and laws varies; however, many (69.8%) students stated having at least heard of accessibility guidelines and laws, while a substantial portion (30.2%) lacks knowledge of them entirely. Programs that incorporate accessibility learning objectives tend to have more students knowledgeable about these guidelines and laws, often citing their current education as the primary source of their knowledge, revealing that education plays a role in students' knowledge of web accessibility. Additionally, 26.2% of the total amount of responses from the students indicated knowledge acquisition regarding accessibility guidelines and laws from their current education.