Campus activities aim to provide a platform for students to exchange views, enrich their knowledge and broaden their views, develop versatile abilities and demonstrate their talent. Campus activities not only have improved student morality and enriched their lives, but also have provided opportunities for them to learn things outside of their regular academic studies.

Generally speaking, campus activities can be divided into 3 different types. The first type includes forums and lectures regarding ideology, such as ''Youth in the Prime -Outstanding Chinese Youth Forum'', ''Great Masters Forum'' and ''the Little Grove Culture Forum''. The second type of campus activity includes other various academic lectures and competitions, such as those that may cover natural sciences, social sciences, or the humanities. The third type of campus activity is made of up of recreational activities and sporting events including freshmen-welcoming parties, parties in honor of graduating students, science, technology and art festivals, student debates, singing competitions, dancing competitions, and other activities offered by the various schools.

It is worth mentioning that student organizations have played an important role in organizing these three kinds of campus activities. By December 2008, the number of officially registered university-level student organizations had reached 72, and the number of school-level student organizations had amounted to 202. These organizations cover such areas as academic studies, social service, art and recreation, sports and science and technology, with a total number of registered members over 12 700.

At present, Shandong University boasts 8 high-level sports teams, including the track and field team, football team, volleyball team, basketball team, table tennis team and directional cross-country race team. Athletes from Shandong University atypically place well at national and provincial competitions. Home to several Olympic and world champions, Shandong University has won the title of National Advanced Sports Education University.

Shandong University has set up various scholarships with the aim of encouraging students to study hard and improving their overall quality. These scholarships include The President Scholarship, Outstanding Students Scholarship, Social Scholarship and Subsidy and National Scholarship. To ensure that every student will finish their study smoothly, the university has tried every means, such as national study-aid loan, work-study program, Green Pass program, study-aid subsidy for impoverished students, temporary financial subsidy, the West Exploration Study-aid Project, subsidy for students from Xinjiang minority groups, living allowances, national subsidy, interest-free loan, annual subsidy at the end of the year and tuition exemption. Shandong University ranks first among all Chinese universities in terms of the amount of national study-aid loan.

Shandong University devotes itself to creating a multicultural campus atmosphere and presents itself as a university that is rapidly opening itself to the world. By 2010, it had organized and participated in over 100 international cultural festivals, cultural forums, Chinese language competitions, parties for domestic and international students as well as public-welfare activities.