I think my understanding of Universal design would be related to the point that EA makes - it grew, as far as web design goes, from Accessible design, but where "accessibility" focussed on ensuring those with disabilities could use the site, Universal design is aimed to ensure that everyone can use the site - so, that's where cultural awareness would come in - and it's also used for things other than just websites.
Re: Nick's point about students expecting to be 'taught' - I'm increasingly seeing that in English (not sure about the rest of the UK) students -those who've come up through the testing at 7/11/14/16/17/18 regime - wanting to know what they have to do to 'pass'. In some cases, it's the English students who expect 'teaching' even more than some of the international ones.