DEV3 Collegia – Free University & College WordPress Theme for Elementor & WooCommerce

A free, photo-led WordPress theme for universities and colleges: a programme finder that works without JavaScript, programme pages with modules and fees, faculties, a staff directory, admissions, campus life, events, an open day booking form and a prospectus shop. No 3D.

by DEV3 TechnologiesVerified Author(0) 0 downloads 0 viewsUpdated 06 Nov 2026

DEV3 Collegia is a free WordPress theme for universities, colleges, institutes and training academies. It is institutional, academic and confident: Libre Baskerville headlines, parchment paper, deep navy bands, crimson actions and gold hairlines, with campus photography in every section. Motion is light (split headings, reveals, counters, a slow Ken Burns drift on the hero) and it respects reduced motion. There is no 3D or WebGL in the theme at all.

Sign in to download it for free. There is no public live demo: watch the video tour at the top of this page, or step through the screenshots at desktop, tablet and phone sizes.

A programme finder that works without JavaScript

  • Filter by level (undergraduate, postgraduate, research, foundation), faculty, mode of study and duration, plus a keyword. It is a plain form, so results are filtered on the server, can be bookmarked and need no JavaScript.
  • Programme pages with a hero and key facts, highlight figures, modules by year with credits and core or optional tags, entry requirements, fees for home and international students, careers, FAQs, the programme leader and an Apply call to action.

Faculties, staff and admissions

  • Faculties and departments with photo tiles and a page per faculty.
  • A staff directory with name, faculty and department filters, and profiles with student hours, research interests and selected publications.
  • Admissions: key dates, four application steps and a scholarships grid. An Apply page and an open day booking request form that lists your events.

Campus life, events and news

  • Campus life and accommodation pages, an events calendar (a month grid with previous and next links, and an agenda on phones) with Event structured data, and a news archive.

Prospectus shop

WooCommerce styling for a downloadable prospectus PDF, a printed prospectus, the application fee and merchandise (hoodie with sizes, mug, diary, notebooks), all under fictional branding, with a slide-out mini cart.

Built for editing

Every demo page is built in Elementor (free) with the DEV3 Theme Toolkit widgets, and 24 block patterns cover the same sections for the block editor. Colours and fonts come from one token file and sync to the Customizer, theme.json and the Elementor kit. Fonts are self-hosted. The demo photos are free-licence (CC0) stock photos listed in PHOTO-CREDITS.md, with no readable university names, crests or signage; all names, programmes, fees and dates are fictional.

How it's built

Architecture, stack, key decisions and the quality gates DEV3 Collegia passed before release.

Our own free WordPress theme for universities and colleges: a programme finder that filters by level, faculty, mode and duration without JavaScript, programme pages, faculties, a staff directory, admissions, an events calendar and a prospectus shop.

The problem it solves

Prospective students compare many programmes at once, often on a phone, and ask the same questions: what will I study, what do I need to get in, what does it cost, where does it lead and when do I apply. University themes often hide the answers behind scripted filters and sliders, or look like a generic corporate site. Collegia had to put those answers on one clear programme page, make finding a programme fast and accessible, stay fully editable in Elementor, show campuses without real names, crests or signage, and ship with no 3D or WebGL code.

Architecture and approach

Collegia is a classic PHP theme with theme.json, built on DEV3's shared theme core in flat mode: a build gate fails the theme if any three.js or WebGL code reaches its assets. The always-loaded JavaScript is about 11 KB gzipped.

The DEV3 Theme Toolkit provides the post types (programmes, staff, events, student stories) and the widgets. The programme finder is a plain GET form: the Programmes archive filters by level, faculty, mode, duration and keyword on the server, so it works without JavaScript and can be bookmarked. Programme fields store highlights, modules by stage, entry requirements, careers and FAQs as simple pipe-separated lines that the single template lays out as tables, an accordion and tags. The events calendar is a real table with plain previous and next links and an agenda for phones.

Open day booking uses the toolkit's appointment request form with the events as topics; submissions are stored as private requests and emailed. The demo uses free-licence CC0 photos with a credits file and no readable names or crests.

Quality gates and results

Collegia ships as a free download with a one-click demo: 13 pages, 14 programmes, 11 staff, 10 events, 6 news posts, 7 shop products and 24 block patterns.

It passes PHP lint, WordPress coding standards (0 errors, 0 warnings), Theme Check with no required issues, the WooCommerce checkout flow and an Elementor editor test, and its no-3D gate.

Tech stack

Area Technologies
Frontend DEV3 Motion, Photo Hero, Lenis, Elementor widgets, Block patterns
Platform WordPress 6.0+, PHP 7.4+, WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, DEV3 Theme Toolkit
Delivery phpcs (WPCS 3), Theme Check, No-3D build gate, One-click demo importer

Inside the build

Photo hero slideshow: a full-screen cross-fading slideshow of the quad, Founders Hall and the library, with a split headline, Find a programme and Book an open day buttons and trust chips. Photo hero slideshow — a full-screen cross-fading slideshow of the quad, Founders Hall and the library, with a split headline, Find a programme and Book an open day buttons and trust chips.

Programme finder: level, faculty, mode and length filters in one panel. It is a plain form, so it works without JavaScript. Programme finder — level, faculty, mode and length filters in one panel. It is a plain form, so it works without JavaScript.

Guides & articles

Practical guides and engineering write-ups for DEV3 Collegia.

A free university WordPress theme: programme finder and admissions with Collegia

Last updated
A free university WordPress theme: programme finder and admissions with Collegia: DEV3 Collegia

A university website has one job: help a prospective student find the right programme, trust what they find and take the next step. That means answers (what will I study, what do I need, what does it cost, where does it lead), a finder that works on any device, and clear dates. DEV3 Collegia is a free WordPress theme built for exactly that, with campus photography instead of effects and every page editable in Elementor.

The Collegia home page: a full-screen photo slideshow of a college quadrangle with the headline

Video tour of the Collegia demo: the photo hero, the programme finder, a programme page, faculties, staff, admissions, events and the shop

Who Collegia is for

  • Universities and colleges with several faculties and a long list of programmes.
  • Institutes, academies and training providers that publish courses, fees and intakes.
  • Agencies building an education website that the admissions team will keep up to date.

A programme finder that works without JavaScript

Visitors filter by level, faculty, mode of study and duration, plus a keyword. The finder is a plain form that submits to the Programmes archive, where the list is filtered on the server. It works on every device, can be bookmarked and shared, and needs no JavaScript.

The programme finder on the Programmes page: level, faculty, mode and length filters above a count of programmes

Programme pages that answer the real questions

Each programme stores its award, level, mode, duration, intake and deadline, fees for home and international students, highlight figures, modules by year, entry requirements, careers and FAQs. The page lays them out the same way every time, with an Apply button and an open day button always in reach.

A Collegia programme page: award, level, duration and mode, then highlight figures

The modules by year with credits and core or optional tags

Staff, faculties and admissions

The staff directory filters by name, faculty and department and each profile shows student hours, research interests and publications. Admissions has a key-dates strip, four application steps and a scholarships grid.

The Collegia admissions page: key dates, steps and scholarships

Events and open days

The events calendar is a real month grid with previous and next links, and an agenda list on phones. Visitors book an open day with a request form that lists your events, and requests are stored privately and emailed to you.

The events calendar for November: a month grid with open days, lectures and concerts

A prospectus shop

WooCommerce styling for a downloadable prospectus, a printed copy, the application fee and merchandise, with a slide-out mini cart.

Set it up in an afternoon

  1. Install the theme and the DEV3 Theme Toolkit, then import the demo from Appearance → DEV3 Demo.
  2. Replace the demo photos with your own, and edit the hero slides in the Photo Hero widget.
  3. Add your faculties and programmes, then your staff and events.
  4. Set the notice bar, the Apply link and the open day link under Appearance → Customize → Collegia: institution details.

Collegia in the Elementor editor with the Photo Hero widget selected

Collegia is free: sign in on DEV3 to download it.

Frequently asked questions

The complete source code (version 1.0.0) as a download from your account, with the setup and usage guides shown on this page. It is free: sign in to download it.

Buying guides: 3D and motion WordPress themes for Elementor and WooCommerce

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