Welcome! WordPress Credits is an experiential learning initiative designed to bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world digital contribution. By joining this program, your institution empowers students to become active participants in the open-source ecosystem while building a verifiable professional portfolio.
Flexible ways to integrate WordPress Credits
Each institution decides how the program fits its academic structure. The most common approaches are:
- As an internship — students complete supervised hours that count toward an internship or work-placement requirement.
- As an embedded module — integrate the program, or selected courses from it, into an existing subject.
- As a pre-graduation project — use it as the practical or capstone project students complete before finishing their studies.
- As an elective or extracurricular credit — offer it as a standalone elective.
These are the most common models, not the only ones. We’re happy to discuss any arrangement that works for your institution — our goal is for the time and work students invest to be formally recognized by their school or university.
How the Program Works
The program is built on a framework of active contribution and mentorship. To ensure a high-quality experience, the program follows these coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. pillars:
- Commitment: Students are expected to commit a minimum of 50 hours to the program.
- Learning Platform: We provide a dedicated platform where students complete curated WordPress courses and log their progress.
- Community Integration: Every student receives a SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ account to join the international WordPress community, allowing them to collaborate with global contributors and program mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues..
- Verifiable Impact: Students create a WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ account to track their official contributions, providing them with a permanent, public record of their work.
Planning your cohort
There is no fixed cap on how many students your institution can enroll. The practical limit is mentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. availability: each mentor guides up to five students at a time, and additional students are assigned only where a mentor has confirmed extra capacity.
This makes cohort size a planning conversation rather than a number you enter on a form. Share your expected student numbers as early as possible — ideally during the consultation call — so mentor recruitment can begin alongside the agreement process. Institutions that confirm numbers late may need to run a smaller first cohort or stagger start dates across the term.
Faculty are welcome to train as mentors and guide their own students. Mentor training is included at no cost, and it is often the fastest way for a larger institution to secure the capacity it needs.
Choosing your start date
There are no fixed global cohort dates. The program runs on your academic calendar: you choose start and end dates that fit your term, and students are enrolled with those dates.
The only constraint is lead time. We ask that:
- the collaboration agreement is signed at least [6–8] weeks before your intended start date
- the final student list reaches us at least [4] weeks before that date
Most of that window is mentor recruitment and pairing, which cannot be compressed. Institutions returning for a second or subsequent cohort can usually work to a shorter timeline — talk to your Program ManagerProgram Manager Program Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule..
Enrolling your students
Once your agreement is signed, there are two ways to enroll students. Your Program Manager will confirm which applies to your cohort during the consultation call.
Students enroll themselves (most cohorts)
We share a student enrollment form with your institutional contact, who passes it to the participating students. Each student completes it directly. This is the default for most institutions: it keeps the details accurate, and it means students take the first step of the program themselves.
Give students a clear internal deadline to complete the form — we ask that all responses are in at least [4] weeks before your start date, so accounts can be created and mentors paired before onboarding begins.
Your institution submits a list (large cohorts)
Where an institution is enrolling a high number of students at once — roughly [N, e.g. 20] or more starting on the same date — it is usually faster for the institution to submit a single list for batch enrollment. Send it as a table with one row per student and the following columns:
| Field | Format |
|---|---|
| Full name | First name and surname |
| Email address | The address the student will use throughout the program |
| Languages spoken | In English. Multiple values separated by commas and enclosed in double quotation marks |
| Preferred language | In English |
| Preferred start date | DD/MM/YYYY |
| End date | DD/MM/YYYY |
| AccessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility) needs | Optional — may be left blank |
Please send the complete list in one go rather than in batches, and allow the same [4]-week lead time.
In either case: late additions are possible and depend on mentor capacity at that moment. If an individual student needs to join outside a cohort, they can use the form for students without an active institution.
Following Student Progress
Institutions will receive a private dashboard to follow each student’s progress, but since open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. contribution is public by design, you can also follow progress through:
- Weekly student updates. Each student publishes regular updates on their own WordPress site during the project phase, and through the dashboard you’ll receive the list of student site URLs.
- Public contribution records. Every contribution is attributed to the student’s WordPress.org profile — translations, documentation, code, design, testing, and event work are all visible there.
Your institution also has a named Program Manager for the duration of the cohort and you can contact them at any time.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a limit to the number of students per cohort?
No fixed limit. Each mentor usually guides up to five students, so your cohort size depends on mentor availability at your chosen start date. Please share expected numbers at the consultation call.
How early do you need the full student list?
At least [4] weeks before your start date, so there is time to schedule a group onboarding calls mentors can be paired before onboarding begins.
Do we get access to a system to follow student progress?
Yes, each institution receives a private dashboard to follow their students. You can also follow progress through students’ weekly published updates and their public WordPress.org contribution records.
When is the next start date?
Whenever suits your calendar. Institutions set their own start and end dates within their academic term, subject to the lead times above.
Does it cost anything?
No. The program, the learning platform, mentor training, and access to tools and resources are provided at no cost to the institution.
Who mentors our students?
Mentors are experienced contributors from the WordPress community. Faculty can also train as mentors and guide their own students.
Can students continue contributing after the program ends?
Yes. Many do, and their WordPress.org profile continues to record their contributions. We encourage students to remain active in the WordPress Ecosystem, so they can strengthen and build skills while contributing to a global open source project, connecting with professionals and companies worldwide.
The Path to Your First Cohort
Transitioning from an interested partner to an active program host is a streamlined process. Here is what you can expect:
| Step | Action | Description |
| 1 | Interest Form | Complete our brief online form to provide details about your institution and goals. |
| 2 | Consultation Call | Book a meeting with a Program Manager to discuss logistics, academic alignment, and specific needs. |
| 3 | Agreement | Sign a formal collaboration agreement to solidify the partnership. |
| 4 | Student Onboarding | We help you onboard your first cohort, providing them with access to all necessary platforms. |
| 5 | Growth & Feedback | We maintain a continuous feedback loopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop to refine the experience and discuss scaling the program to future students. |
What to Expect
Once the program begins, your students will shift from being passive users of the web to active builders. You can expect regular updates on student progress and a final report detailing the contributions made by your cohort to the WordPress project.
Note: This program is highly flexible and can often be integrated into existing internship requirements or capstone projects.
If you’re a student don’t see your school among our partner institutions, please reach out to a faculty member or your administration office and invite them to fill out our Institution Interest Form so we can explore a partnership together, or you can fill this student interest form after connecting with a faculty member or your institution’s administration office.
