21 Best College and University Websites For Design Inspiration

Stanford University is a private research university located in Stanford, California. The higher education institution is known for its interdisciplinary course of study in the liberal arts, entrepreneurial student body, and world-class upskill in science. 

One innovative feature of its school web that keeps you in awe is the consistent emphasis on responsiveness. Stanford University narrates this with the red-orange responsive lines that move around the friendly welcome tone and the interaction of navigations across the web. 

With a hover effect, there is a change in the appearance of the design that leaves you with a lively narrative. By complementing its website design, Stanford University uses a centered downward arrow to emphasize its credible mission statement. 

Stanford stands out from other educational websites by using high-quality visuals across the higher education website. Prospective students will quickly get rich details on graduate programs and campus news due to the exceptional appearance of the dawn-pink footer.

Ross School's homepage greets you with a smiling and colorful image of its high school students. 

Taking center stage of the school web is the strategic positioning of prestigious universities attended by its graduate students, displayed over a Desert Storm color background.

As you explore the school website, you will notice its stylish fonts and written testimonials that align with the credibility of Ross School. 

Standout features of Ross's web design are three-column catchy videos in horizontal positions, animated clustered bubbles, and brownish-orange color CTAs respectively.

I like how the deep sea-blue footer background embodies a brief introduction, quick links, contact details, and a click-to-view interactive map allowing for friendly user navigation.

Bow Valley College is a student-centered leading institution with resources for excellence in academic programs. This college campus website uses search bars beneath the school logo at the fixed header menu for coordinated navigation and a seamless user experience.

Distinguishing its college website from other college websites is a full-width image accompanied by bold lettering and colorful CTAs that contribute to visual consistency.

Bow Valley makes its design simple by embracing white spaces and minimal navigation to direct visitors to a curated display of its academic programs. 

I love how the footer section on an extensive Gulf Blue background details the interest of Bow Valley College, including linked icons to their socials.

Muhlenberg College is an independent liberal arts school. One of the first things to notice about the College website is how it uses a visual tour to narrate innovations and the day-to-day campus experiences. 

Built to attract prospective students, Muhlenberg College uses a three-layout remarkable video from graduate students of the college as social proof. These social proofs sit over a beautiful soft peach background beneath the academic discipline offered by the college.

You will find the left-side position of its academic news, lettered in a vivid burgundy color to help new students keep track of college activities.

Princeton University is a prestigious private Ivy League University in Princeton, New Jersey. This university site offers one of the strongest need-based financial aid options such that potential students have access to higher education, regardless of financial constraints.

The hamburger menu, combination mark logo, search bar, and other interactive elements have a space in this clean layout, contributing to the elegant web design.

Exploring the website, you will notice the consistent use of two color schemes that sync with the immersive feel of their campus experience. On an expansive black footer are resources ensuring that newly admitted students are thoroughly informed.

Conde Nast College is a fashion and design-based institution on a mission to open doors to a unique world of creativity in the heart of London. 

I love how the wordmark logo displays while hovering around the drop-down menu of the header conveying course offerings and academic programs of the college.

You can’t miss the auto-play video treating visitors to a virtual tour that reveals its top-notch fashion works from within the industry. 

Conde Nast's College website uses a borderline to organize its content into comprehensible sections that give the entire site a clearer visual perception.

Morehouse College is a leadership and service-driven higher education institution that offers unapologetic excellence in liberal arts, technology, innovations, and global cultural dexterity.

Prominent on the college website is a smiling full-width image of the college students and bold fonts that treat you to a welcome. A gentle stroll down the hero section reveals Morehouse as the alma mater of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Taking a centered position on the site is a virtual tour that directs visitors to its awesomely structured building locations. The virtual tour and other interactive elements of the site are highly responsive, maintaining the same coordination on all mobile devices. 

Prospective students will surely get curiosity sparked by the news features of pioneers displayed over a white and porcelain background, conveying a strong sense of purpose.

McGill University is one of the prestigious public universities in Canada that aims to deliver the best possible education to its current and prospective students. 

This university website sticks to a simple web design dominated by responsive highlighted texts, allowing students to get a clue about its innovations and admission processes.

The footer section of the university website on an engulfing black color embodies the evolution of its services, contact details, and links to its social.

Bayside College is a Christian-centered leading institution with track records of success, incorporating spiritual and academic excellence into its curriculum.

Synonymous with its objectives, the Bayside College website attracts visitors with an autoplay HD video of its campus life. In the video frame, you will notice the logo and connective CTAs that encourage potential students to enroll in the new academic section.

A visible thin yellow divider characterizes the non-sticky header of the college website by distinguishing the emblem logo from the drop-down menu.

I love how the Deep blue sea background of the footer extends to the main page, nourishing the web design with a unique color blend.

The University of Oxford is a leading institution dedicated to providing world-class research that benefits society, nationally and globally. Different from other created in-house websites, the University of Oxford's website is very AI-focused. 

This university showcases its ambition through detailed information paired with the features of easy navigation and sliders that allow for an immersive slide view.

Above the school's homepage is the blue whale header. In the horizontal sequence of elements, there are drop-down menus revealing a list of its communication departments and admission processes. 

At the center of the web is a horizontal layout of the news section and a vertical display of upcoming events paired with an Ecru-white background. With these visual approaches and social media links, new students easily keep track of extracurricular activities.

UniAcademia uses one of the best university websites that employ maximalist and responsive designs to prioritize its contents, modifying the UI/UX of its web. 

The first thing visitors notice on the UniAcademia website is the auto-sliding images shining a spotlight on the hero section.

Amongst the elegant designs are icons above the header that direct visitors to its socials. On the header is a drop-down menu and a visual tour link. Beneath the tour is a Titan-White color background conveying the academic programs offered by the higher education institution.

You can’t help but love the visually appealing curated blog posts and the monumental upcoming events that ensure students keep track of their extra-curricular activities. Close to the footer section is a logical set-up for its mailing list alongside vital information details.

Champlain College is a financial-aid private college with a career-driven approach to prepare students for professional life from their first day. 

This college website uses a Prussian-blue and a-white color scheme for its header section with an array of interactive elements in the background colors.

Taking a spotlight on the web is an intriguing visual tour of its fall open house events alongside an introduction in white font color. 

Immediately after the hero section, you will find a rich history of the college, academic programs, and campus news listed in a plain-white vertical layout.

Students will easily love the blend of color schemes close to the footer section, each enhancing its content with a specific command.

Alverno College is a catholic liberal arts college located in Milwaukee, Wiscon. Upholding its liberal arts heritage, Alverno College intentionally uses an inclusive community to engage current students in active and collaborative learning capable of fostering academic excellence.

Prospective students enjoy a flow of paprika-colored CTAs. These colorful CTAs cheer students to get informed about its degree programs, admissions process, and financial aid opportunities.

With a well-organized layout of header navigations, site users will quickly find the category of information they need. A stand-out attribute of the header is the combination mark logo that embodies the branded colors of the college.

I like that the college website incorporates its Paprika and Cadmium-orange branded colors into its web design, using plain white as its web's primary color.

The San Francisco Film School is an institution dedicated to creating filmmakers and content creators with careers in the entertainment industry. This higher ed website does justice to the school objectives with visually interesting slides of its crafts.

Validating its mission is a prologue in carmine pink and black font color following a one-minute video positioned over the web's primary background.

You will notice the responsive designs used in conveying course offerings, campus news, and the ‘what student says’ sections.

A standout feature I love about the website is the image background of its footer and pop-up inviting prospective students to its degree programs.

DeVry University aims to offer financial aid options and academic programs driven by the tech-centered needs of industries. This top university sure knows how to balance attractiveness with a reflection of enriching experience.

The first catchy element on this website is a sharp image of its newly admitted students. This image centers between the extensive dark gray header color and the primary white background of the website.

A scroll past the hero section is another header outlining the sequence of other content in a horizontal layout. 

You can’t miss the brilliant design of its FAQ section, each separated by lines of mercury color answering inquiries of its prospective students. Among the wide range of navigations at the footer are vital details and links to its socials.

Bates College uses its website to capture bedrock values of academic excellence, inclusivity, and social responsibility. Unlike other college websites, Bates College uses minimalist and simplistically straightforward designs to showcase campus life and academic programs. 

On the Merlot-colored header of the site, you will notice the use of three elemental designs. While the hamburger menu takes a top-left position, the search bar takes a top-right for easy navigation, leaving the wordmark logo in the center. 

Another stunning design of this website is a downward arrow layered to the Moonstone-blue layout that displays hot campus news and upcoming events with a click. 

You can't help but like the view of Instagram posts on an extensive Dark Jungle Green background above the footer.

Kennesaw State University is one of the best public universities established on two suburban campuses in Kennesaw and Marietta, northwest of metro Atlanta. 

This higher education institution uses a standout website with designs like the search bar, fused letter mark logo, and visual tour. Sunglow Border Lines curates web content like blog posts, involvements, and academic disciplines into an exceptional visual percept. 

Further influencing the web design is a smoky-black color overshadowing the footer image yet revealing the easy navigation. The footer boldly bears the contact details, admissions office, and links to bulks of its offerings.

The University of Texas is a leading institution ranking the top nine public universities in the U.S.A. Landing on the university website, you will easily tell that the school has a flair for elegant designs. 

Narrating its sense of high taste, this university website uses its slogan and a video loop of building locations to attract potential students and showcase campus life.

Exploring the web, you will notice how the school’s homepage uses a two-segmented header and parallax scrolling to reveal its innovations, academic offerings, and admission pages.

I love how this university website uses minimalism and elegance to give a unique depth to its entire site.

Harvard University is the oldest higher education institution in the United States. This university website opens with a beautiful full-width video that captures the essence of exploring vital early years to give the best start in life. 

Rather than piling up admissions pages, this university website uses a hamburger menu to achieve a coordinated visual perception.

On an engulfing smoky-white background, this university uses entertaining designs to reflect innovative discoveries and demonstrates its academic prowess without missing vital information.

University of Minnesota’s higher education website is well-coordinated, embodying vital information relating to student life, campus life, and extracurricular activities.

Like many other university websites, the University of Minnesota prioritizes its students' interests by showcasing its offerings in the most prominent part. This approach ensures prospective and current students can easily find their way on the university’s website.

The career-driven YouTube-embedded visual tour and bold fonts of the hero section highlight various aspects of the school’s offerings. 

You can’t help but fall in love with the consistency in color schemes and the curated section of Instagram posts, each separated by visible white spaces.

Swim University, a family-owned institution founded in 2006, is well known for its pool care higher education offerings. Landing on the school’s website is a video that conveys the best expertise of the higher education institution.

This university website is squeaky clean such that every element of the website has a space in the web layout. I love how the university uses a plain white background to showcase its pool guide academic courses. 

The position of the academic courses centers and syncs with the clean pool video of the hero section. Similar to the header color scheme, the footer section on a light navy-blue background embodies resources and links that connect to its social media platforms.