As part of the civil service reform, the postgraduate diploma programmes for new recruits into the civil service have been replaced by the Foundational In-service Training starting this year. The FIT programme focuses on competencies required at the workplace rather than academic knowledge.
According to the Royal Civil Service Commission, civil servants will receive training throughout their careers to develop competencies and to ensure lifelong learning and upskilling.
In the past, graduates selected through the civil service examination undergo a year-long postgraduate diploma programme in public administration and financial management at the Royal Institute of Management.
Starting this year, the selected graduates will undergo a one to three-month-long foundational in-service training or FIT programme.
“In the process of reviewing training and development, we felt the need to make our civil service system more dynamic and agile in solving our problems in providing public service delivery more efficiently and effectively. So, we thought that if we equip our civil servants with job-specific or job-related competencies and skills, they will be able to take on the responsibilities faster and in a more agile manner. In contrast to the PGD course which was more generic, this foundational in-service training is job specific to make them job ready,” said Tshering Yangden, the Commissioner of the Royal Civil Service Commission.
“Almost all the competencies required at the foundational level, to begin with, have been taken care and the various modules in both FIT phase one and phase two will help the civil servants to begin their work as a young civil servant,” said Namgay, the Head of Department of Management Development under RIM.
A total of 259 selected graduates are being trained in the FIT phase one programme.
The first batch of new civil service recruits will complete the FIT programme by end of April. The commission along with the RIM will review the programme when the first batch completes their training.
Meanwhile, the RCSC has also introduced Leadership Development and Assessment Programmes to enhance leadership and management competencies at all position levels.
Kinzang Lhadon
Edited by Sherub Dorji
