Students coming from all over Europe are divided into international teams of five or six. Each team is assigned to a modelling problem. The cases originate from industry, commerce, different organisations or branches of society. The problems are brought in and presented by the problem owners (or supervisors from universities replacing the industrial representatives). The students are allocated to teams on the basis of their areas of interest and mathematical expertise. The teams are guided by academic staff members called “group instructors”.

The week starts with the company representatives giving a brief outline of the problem, the industrial context and the relevance of the problem for his/her company. The team questions the problem owner about the problem and the expectations.

To identify and understand the "real" problem may take some time. The students must formulate a model and recognize the typically non-unique mathematical problem. The analysis follows leading to analytical studies and efforts to find techniques for numerical solutions. Mathematical descriptions (models of the given problem) have to be written down and evaluated. In most cases computer programmes are developed using MATLAB, C, C++ or other tools. The results of these computer simulations are then checked. The team has to ask themselves if the results provide a satisfactory answer with practical value to the original problem. Perhaps the model has to be changed or refined and an iteration process starts until the results satisfy the team and the instructor.

Typically the group arrives at an approximate solution. At the end of the week the student groups have to present their findings in public. The team prepares the final presentation of the results. Each team has 20 minutes to present their results and convince the participants of industry and commerce of the validity and usefulness of their solutions. The students must think carefully to discover ways to 'sell' their results.

Further they are assumed to produce later a decent written report, a short article that will be published in the proceedings of the Modelling Week.

In addition to the programme, excursions and a final party are organised. Contributions from the research teams and from the participants representing several different countries and cultures make this final party a remarkable event.