This is the 5626th most frequent Portuguese word.
académica
"Académica" means "academic" in English, relating to education or scholarly activities.
The word 'académica' is used here as an adjective describing the type of career, relating to academics or scholarly pursuits.
Ela está interessada numa carreira académica.
She is interested in an academic career.
Here, 'académica' characterizes the conference as related to academic or scholarly discussion and activities.
A conferência académica reuniu especialistas de várias áreas.
The academic conference brought together specialists from various fields.
In this sentence, the word 'académica' modifies 'desempenho', indicating that the performance pertains to scholarly activities and education.