Executive training director, Nouvelle Calédonie
Marie-Laure Gibert heads the executive training unit GIP Formation Cadres Avenir, which runs yearly training courses in France for around sixty local businesspeople from the French Pacific Ocean territory of Nouvelle Calédonie. She appreciates the “trust-based relationship we’ve woven with Campus France over some twenty years now”, and the precious help provided by Campus France in managing these specially tailored grant programmes.
How did you first get in touch with Campus France ?
We first called in Campus France when setting up the executive training programme some twenty years ago now. We were looking for an operator capable of managing the grants awarded to local businesspeople for attending training courses in France that would help their professional development in Nouvelle Calédonie. This would be a complex task because each individual would be a one-off case. Each programme would be individually tailored.
What form does Campus France support take ?
We’re in daily contact with Campus France by email. We send them instructions each time we send someone over to France. But our grantholders will be in France for anything from one to eight years, and their situations can vary widely. So their grant amounts will be adjusted accordingly. Then with around 150 people in France at any one time, there are expenses to be reimbursed pretty much every day. We forward reimbursement requests through to Campus France as soon as they come in.
How would you describe your business relationship with Campus France ?
I appreciate Campus France’s efficiency. This has been a trust-based relationship ever since the programme started. We’ve got a specially assigned correspondent in Paris, who takes charge of our business. With Campus France, I know grants will be paid on time. That’s very important, especially when people are going over to France with their families. The three regional governments in Nouvelle Calédonie also run grant schemes, and a few years back they decided they’d be managing these schemes themselves. But that didn’t work out very well at all!
