32 ans, Coordinateur digital, Paris Ouest
My name is Michel Yaradouno, currently a Digital Coordinator in the private higher education sector.
The company where I was doing my internship was ready to offer me a work-study contract. I was enrolled in an initial school, but the advisor was not very responsive and the company was starting to get impatient. So I contacted two other schools, including MBway, which had a similar program. I chose the MBway school thanks to the responsiveness of the school’s academic advisor.
My campus & my program
I directly joined the M2 in Digital Marketing and Communication at the Paris Levallois campus. As it was just after the Covid period, there were no in-person classes. Everything was on Teams. We only came in to take exams.
Student life in France
I arrived in France in September 2015 with a student visa. I had been admitted into a Bachelor’s degree in AES (Economic and Social Administration) at the University of Saint-Étienne. The first months were very intense: a different education system, one month of classes to catch up on, administrative procedures to handle at the same time, homesickness, etc. But I quickly adapted and started building my new social life with other students.
Advice for international students?
The advice is simple: preparation
The first year can be quite expensive: accommodation, tuition fees… And depending on the city, finding a student job can sometimes be complicated during the first few months. Preparation is therefore essential.
Today, digitalization makes things easier. Some procedures can be done online even before arriving in France: applying for a social security number, for example.