The Association of African Universities (AAU) runs an HIV and AIDS Programme dubbed 'African Universities Responding to HIV and AIDS' which aims at ensuring that the higher education community in Africa uses all available means to prevent the spread, mitigate the impact and manage the HIV and AIDS epidemic. In 2008/2009, the Association commissioned four impact assessment surveys in universities in Sub-Saharan Africa to examine the extent to which HIV and AIDS concerns have become a major aspect of institutional policies; the extent to which these concerns have been integrated into formal curricular and other student-teacher activities; the extent to which advocacy and awareness programmes on the pandemic have become normal institutional activities; and the extent to which all these have impacted on student and teacher behaviour.