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Student orientation or new student orientation (often encapsulated into an Orientation week, O-Week, Frosh Week, Welcome Week or Freshers' Week) is a period before the start of an academic year at a university or tertiary institutions. A variety of events are held to orient and welcome new students during this period. The name of the period varies across institutions.

Although usually described as a week, the length of this period varies widely from university to university and country to country, ranging from about three days to a month or even more (e.g. four or five weeks, depending on the program, at Chalmers). The length of the week is often affected by each university's tradition as well as financial and physical constraints. Additionally, institutions may include programming in the summer months before the first-year to aid in the transition that also is referred to as orientation or orientation programs.

Orientation programming, regardless of length or format, aims to introduce students to both the academic and social aspects of an institution. For institutions that have enhanced their orientations to serve as a comprehensive transition program, learning outcomes are developed to assess success. CAS professional standards for higher education provide objectives for what Orientation programs should aim to accomplish. In North America, organizations exist to share practices that are built upon these outcomes. Two prominent organizations are NODA-Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education and the Canadian Association Colleges and Universities Student Services (CACUSS), which has Orientation, Transition and Retention Community of Practice. The CACUSS community of practice specifically serves as a network for student affairs professionals to share best practices, research, and trends seen at Canadian institutions.