How to change direction in higher education?

Contents

Reorientation

Why decide to change direction during your higher education studies?

After one, two or even three years of study, you’re thinking of changing direction. There are many reasons for this decision:

demotivation in the chosen course of study ;
failure to pass various examinations;
the jobs offered by the sector are full;
other courses offer access to the professions of the future;
you enjoyed the course at first, but only at first ;
you lack interest in the subjects on offer;
the unsuitability of the course for your career plans ;
the trigger for a different path for your future;
choosinghigher education by default.

Changing direction during the year may seem the most obvious solution. So you need to do some soul-searching and ask yourself the ultimate question: why change direction?

Questioning

How do you make the right decisions about career change?

To be successful in your plans to change direction, you need to be sure you’re making the right decision. To do this, take stock of your situation. The right decision is one that will inevitably lead to satisfaction. It depends on the context and the objective you are aiming for. It is faithful to your intuition, which itself is based on your experience and knowledge. It is consistent with your values and principles.

When it comes to the course itself, after your first year at university, you need to find the right answers to the following questions:

does your new career path match your deepest aspirations?
which course of study is closest to your passion?
Does this new pathway offer good professional experience?
does the new course open the way to the job market?

Each answer will guide you in your choice of career path.

Training

Which schools should you turn to if you want to change direction?

The Parcoursup platform offers no fewer than 19,500 courses for students to choose from. So you need to put together a solid, coherent study and career plan that matches your new interests. However, it is possible to study at certain specialist schools without going through Parcoursup.

There are several options for your future studies:

staggered start: this solution is offered by some public schools and colleges.
Gateways: you can follow a course in the second year or Master’s, depending on your degree;
Competitive examinations: you need to be well prepared to take them for the next academic year;
go back to square one: the new course is very different from what you were doing and you give yourself every chance of succeeding and starting all over again.

You can choose from a wide range of schools and training institutes, including universities, engineering schools, IEP (Instituts d’études politiques) and IAE (Institut d’Administration des Entreprises).

You can also choose a private business school that offers work-linked training and a network of alumni and companies.

INSEEC (INStitut des Hautes Etudes Economiques et Commerciales), part of the OMNES Education higher education group, is a business school specialising in management. We offer the following programmes:

BBA, post BAC (4 years) ;
Bachelor, post Bac to Bac+2 (3 years) ;
Grande Ecole, post BAC+2/+3 or Bac+4 (1 to 3 years), and
MSc & MBA, post-BAC+3/+4 programme (1 or 2 years).

We also have a work-study programme. It is designed to enable you to combine the lessons you have learned with their practical application. There are 2 types of contract: apprenticeship and professionalisation. This programme is aimed solely at students in :

Bachelor 3rd year ;
MSc & MBA 1st and 2nd year ;
Master 1 and Master 2 of the Grande École programme

For our BBA INSEEC programme, the work-study contract is reserved for 4th year students in the International Business and Innovation major.

When you study at INSEEC, you also benefit from the Alumni network, made up of former INSEEC students. We organise welcome days, competitions and dissertation presentations, with the participation of our former students. Alumni also offer internships, work-study programmes, job offers, conferences and courses to help you on your career path. We offer 2 start dates, in September or February.