The first week of classes has started and you don’t know how to help new students settle in? An academic week is usually the best bet!
This tends to be the type of event that unites the whole campus. It brings together scientific research, opportunities, connections, and even a party, all in one place.
Because of that, it also attracts many new students and sponsors.
Want to know how to organize an academic week? In today’s article, we’ll explain it all! Keep reading to learn more about:
- What is an academic week?
- Goals of an academic week
- How to organize an academic week
- Is it worth investing in musical acts?
- How to get funding for academic events
What Is an Academic Week?
Basically, an academic week is an event organized by university programs or student academic centers.
This means both professors and students can lead its planning and execution.
After all, with a multidisciplinary team, it’s even easier to reach the main goal of an academic week: bringing students, professors, researchers, and industry professionals together in a space for learning and exchanging experiences.
Academic weeks usually last 3 to 5 days and take place at the beginning of the semester.
They’re quite dynamic and offer programming like talks, workshops, panel discussions, paper presentations, hands-on sessions, and other activities related to the field of study.
These activities can be run by the organizers themselves. But a good idea is to open a call for proposals so attendees can suggest new ideas too.
This makes the event more diverse and inclusive, showing everyone the real opportunities available for academic and professional life.
Goals of an Academic Week: Why Is It So Important?
- Bridge theory and practice: connect academic knowledge to the job market;
- Bring the campus together: introduce the university’s facilities, new friends, and professors to incoming students;
- Foster research: promote scientific output through paper submissions and presentations;
- Attract new students: in some cases, host an open house week at the university for students finishing high school;
- Generate networking: create professional connections between students, professors, industry professionals, and companies;
- Promote student leadership: encourage students to organize and lead events themselves;
- Round out their education: offer extracurricular activity hours that count toward the program’s required credit hours.
How to Organize an Academic Week
Organizing an event of this scale takes planning. Here are the key points to make sure your academic week is a success:
1. Put Together an Organizing Committee
First, gather the ideal team to organize an event of this scale!
As mentioned, professors can help with the more bureaucratic side, like raising funds, recommending speakers, forming an evaluation committee, and booking academic spaces…
But students are essential for mobilizing attendees and getting hands-on with building the website, promotion, check-in, secretarial support, and more.
2. Define a Theme
Next, choose a central theme that connects with industry trends and sparks students’ interest.
This will be the event’s throughline and should demonstrate its value.
That’s why the theme also shows up on posters, social media posts, and the topics covered at the event.
3. Choose the Venue
Check the infrastructure available at your institution: classrooms, auditoriums, labs, and even outdoor spaces.
At this point, it’s a good idea to plan ahead and book the spaces early.
After all, since they’re usually held at the start of the term, academic weeks can clash with other events happening that semester.
4. Paper Submissions
Not every academic week includes paper submissions and presentations.
But this can be a great way to promote the scientific research happening at your institution.
This boosts your institution’s credibility and introduces students to research groups, undergraduate research programs, extension projects, and more.
This part might seem like more work, but it doesn’t have to be anymore!
All you’ll need is to set up an evaluation committee and choose an event platform, like Even3.
With Even3, paper submissions can be done online, along with the review process and production of the event proceedings.
On top of that, presentation scheduling is done automatically, avoiding time conflicts if you’d like.
This way, the committee can focus solely on evaluating the papers while the platform handles the rest!
5. Speakers
Another reason attendees show up to an academic week is the choice of speakers.
After defining your theme, do your research and look for authorities on the topic to invite. They should be a draw for your attendees.
So, keep a few things in mind:
- Check speakers’ availability well ahead of time, especially the more well-known ones;
- Know your attendees’ profile and invite speakers they’d enjoy;
- Don’t stick only to famous names — invite industry professionals and alumni who can share practical experience and inspiring stories.
6. Networking Spaces
In the past, coffee breaks were the go-to when talking about networking. But today we have more options beyond that, such as:
- Icebreaker activities: open the event with quick introduction activities among students, encouraging each one to briefly share their area of interest or project;
- Themed conversation tables: divide groups by area or topic and run quick “speed meeting”-style chats, where each attendee shares experiences for a few minutes before switching tables;
- Opportunities board: set up a physical or digital board where companies, professors, and students can share internship openings, research projects, and partnership invitations;
- Interactive lounge space: create casual spaces with quick games, digital kiosks, or message boards where students can get to know each other in a more relaxed way;
- An exclusive online community: beyond the event itself, keep attendees connected through WhatsApp groups, Discord, or other platforms, so networking continues even after it ends.
7. Promote the Event
Speaking of social media, it’s important to have a person or team in charge of promoting your event.
To do this, also use a mix of channels:
- Social media: Instagram, LinkedIn, and even TikTok can attract more registrants. Choose to promote wherever your attendees already are;
- Offline media on campus: also use bulletin boards, posters, and flyers at your university or nearby schools, if your event is open to that audience;
- Exclusive communities: create WhatsApp or Telegram groups, or use other platforms, to turn your attendees into an organic community promoting your event.
Because they’re so dynamic, academic weeks have huge potential to build a community and generate excitement around the event.
For example, UPF’s Interação Day opened the university’s doors so future students could see everything that happens there.
The result? More than 6,000 people reached, and the award for the Instagram profile with the highest organic reach in Rio Grande do Sul.
8. Certificates
Finally, your attendees have made it to the end of the event, and now they’re waiting for their certificate.
It’s a big draw, since it offers those beloved extra credit hours! That’s why it’s so important to send them out as soon as the event ends.
But imagine how exhausting it is to create and email each certificate individually after organizing a big event!
With an event platform, you can create certificates automatically and send them to attendees in bulk.
This makes producing certificates faster and simpler, freeing you up to invest in other post-event areas, like satisfaction surveys, content promotion, and more.
Is It Worth Booking Musical Acts?
You may have seen it before: some academic weeks end with a party.
Obviously, these events don’t need to be purely academic. Including cultural or musical programming can make a huge difference in turnout, and bring students even closer together.
According to research by Ingresse, 41.5% of university students say the act performing is their main motivation for going to a college party.
So, a band, DJ, or show can boost attendance and make your academic week more memorable.
But the tip is: keep it balanced.
Focus on the academic side during the event days, and save the musical act for a festive closing. That way, you combine learning, leisure, and engagement.
How to Get Funding for Academic Events
As you can see, an academic week can be organized in different ways: with or without a big budget.
If you do want to invest, don’t forget to track every expense and review your available budget, okay?
But you can also turn to other sources of funding, such as:
Sponsorships
As mentioned, academic weeks tend to attract plenty of sponsors.
That’s because events like this are extremely effective for reaching a young audience and offering products that will genuinely help them at the start of their academic journey.
There’s a big market you can tap into! So, reach out to companies and institutions aligned with your event’s theme and audience.
Present customized proposals that show how their support will bring visibility to their brand.
That means you can offer logo placement on materials, booths, social media promotion, speaking opportunities, and more.
It’ll all depend on the sponsorship tiers in your proposal. Ideally, offer at least three options to your sponsors.
And don’t worry if you don’t know how to write a proposal yet! Just use the free template developed by Even3.
Grant Programs
Another source of funding you can use to build your event’s budget is grant programs that support academic events. Here are the main ones in Brazil:
- PAEP (National Event Support Program): funds scientific, technological, or cultural events that contribute to the country’s academic and scientific development;
- ARC CNPq (Grant for Holding Congresses): support from Brazil’s National Council for Scientific and Technological Development to cover the costs of organizing scientific and technological events of national and international relevance;
- PROEV (Event Support Program): aimed at events focused on improving the public policies essential to Brazil’s development;
- State Research Foundations (FAPs): each Brazilian state has its own research foundation (such as FAPESP in São Paulo, FAPEMIG in Minas Gerais, and FAPEAL in Alagoas), which regularly launch grant programs for academic events.
Similar public and institutional research funding programs exist in many other countries, so it’s worth checking what’s available where you are.
In this process, you’ll need to submit your event to these grant programs ahead of time.
That’s why Even3 has put together tips, a grant calendar, and project templates to help you land the funding you’ve been dreaming of for your event.
Check out the free kit and start creating complete academic events today.
