As France begins a new effort to attract investors and people of talent to live and work in the country, two students of St George’s College in Kingston recently embraced the French campaign dubbed Choose France by successfully passing the Diploma in French Language Studies (DELF) test, a French exam that encourages high-level study in the European country.

Rashard Gordon (left) and Jerome Hayles (right) graduated from the DELF exam at a prize-giving ceremony on December 7, 2023 at the French Embassy in Kingston, symbolically starting their journey to higher education in France and potentially choosing to live there.

France, billing itself as “the incarnation of a language, a culture, a way of life”, launched the Choose France campaign last month, touting its economy as the seventh largest in the world and boasting some of the best hourly productivity rates globally.

France says it ranks third in Europe and sixth worldwide in research and development (R&D) effort and is first among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), commonly called the rich club, in terms of public funding and tax incentives for business R&D. With the ‘France 2030’ plan, the country plans to devote 50 per cent of funding “to emerging actors that drive innovation”.

“France shines its light on five continents, draws people in, and inspires dreams. We now want to take up a new challenge: to make France shine even brighter and make you dream more. To remain a key country in this century, to remain a cultural landmark and a leading economic player, to continue attracting investors and talent, France needs a brand that reflects the diversity of its fields of excellence – both in traditional know-how and in digital and scientific innovations.

“With the France brand, we invite investors and talent from around the world to come and create in this land of innovation that is France. We will be there to support them so that they can bring to fruition their ideas and dreams in entrepreneurship as well as their investment projects,” the Choose France campaign organisers said.