“I think I’m going to enroll,” says Nicolas, a 19-year-old senior at Masséna High School, who has just made his choice. After spending about ten minutes talking with the booth presenter, having his baccalaureate in hand, he will be heading to law school next year. The 7th Studyrama fair, which just closed its doors Saturday evening, has had the merit of raising awareness among many young people about the various courses offered in higher education.
After being organized at the Nikaia Palace, the student fair has returned for this seventh edition to the Acropolis due to space issues. It was indeed easier to accommodate the approximately 139 booths representing nearly 600 post-baccalaureate programs. The event was spread out over two levels, organized by themes and institutions. The event’s goal was to assist students and future graduates in navigating choices, in public as well as private establishments. The 20,000 young people who walked through the fair during the two days it was open were thus able to get advice from the booth staff. The offerings included choosing an academic course that matched their profiles, information on job prospects, and advice from alumni on how to succeed. Of course, each institution advocated for its own, but the essential part was primarily to sensitize young people to their futures.
This choice is all the more crucial as the year 2007 sees the implementation of new measures. Future baccalaureate holders wishing to enroll in economics or medicine will be able to pre-register on the university’s website as early as this year. At the end of this, they will receive either a favorable or unfavorable response, or possibly a proposal for an interview with a responsible official. The goal is to warn the student and detail the workings of the desired faculty. “If the student’s profile is too far removed from their choice, we will not hesitate to suggest a reorientation,” argues Eliane Kotler, vice-president of the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis before adding, “It is necessary to interest the youth. It is in this logic that the university decided this year to strengthen its presence at the fair. We thus abandoned the usual imposing stand to distribute them throughout the fair, according to the faculties.” If successful, this measure could be generalized across all faculties.
“Personal services are currently booming,” observes the vice-president. She continues, “Commerce, information technology, catering, and so-called traditional trades are also constantly increasing.” The necessary workforce in these sectors is increasingly lacking. “We need to re-interest young people in manual trades,” insists Mr. Sanguedos, an advisor attached to the CIO of Grasse (Information and Orientation Center). “Every young person should be at their full potential when choosing a field. It is with this in mind that apprenticeship is useful,” he specifies.
Closer to our region, the tourism sector continues to grow, and job opportunities are plentiful. The advisor explains, “Just in the city of Nice alone, tourism represents more than one billion euros in turnover per year. That’s considerable. Moreover, it’s a sector that deals with the public and consequently requires non-relocatable staff.”
On the other hand, some fields are completely overcrowded. Students are piling up in humanities, letters and languages, sports. But job opportunities are lacking. For instance, there are 400 students in sports for 70 teaching positions. And outside of public service, what is there to do? “This is to avoid such situations that one must absolutely start taking an interest in their future right out of middle school. We are currently in an era of mass education. The audience is broader and more varied than 30 years ago. Concerns have changed. Finding a job has become more important than being cultured. A great deal of pressure is thus placed on the shoulders of the youth,” says a somewhat disheartened Advisor Sanguedos.
For those who couldn’t attend the fair, the CIO and its advisors are available all year round. So don’t wait any longer, start thinking about your future now.
