HELP - Best 順番 for getting approval??

Regarding getting university students to go, I think you would be better off contacting professors than students themselves, and/or the international office at a university. That said, it can be very difficult to do things in combination with other organizations, especially for your first event, so it might just be that you end up sending info to universities and hoping for the best.

I'm also a new CIR this year, but I'll tell you how my event planning went in case it helps? I saved a bullet point list for myself as reference, so, I'll just paste it here.

- Come up with the idea and do some background research: did your pred do any events like this? Have there been similar events done by others? What worked and what didn't? Alternately, has there NOT been any events like this (and if so, what will this add to the general event roster)?
- Talk the idea over with people in your office in a casual way -- see what their instinctual responses and general advice is, as they might think of stuff that wouldn't occur to you.
- Write up a basic outline of what you want to do (i.e., how long will the event be, what will the breakdown of activities be in the event, what will motivate people to come, what is the goal of the event, how much will it cost, who will be the target audience and what will be the participant limit, etc.)
- Take your written up idea to the event tantousha. (This might not be relevant in your office but if there is someone who runs events, they can probably help you.)
- Edit the basic plan (with tantousha's help) into a formal plan, and make any necessary accompanying info forms to go with it (i.e., a sample of materials to be used in the event).
- Send the plan (起案書) around the office for formal, inkan-stamping approval (that's how we do it in my office anyway, and at this point in the process, everyone can leave you feedback on the form itself).
- Make edits as necessitated by people's comments.
- Make a flier to advertise the event, as well as figure out a script for whatever other advertising venues you have (official website, facbeook page, etc.), and get approval on those.

Then it would just be the process of spreading the info out however your office does it. My office has regular places where it holds events so we don't need to reserve a location, but that might be another thing that is important for your office.

ETA because this got a bit long: Definitely get approval from your office before ever contacting anyone outside the office. In my office, each individual small step requires approval. You will want to confirm how things are in your office on that front to play it safe.