Opening Message

The Civil Service College (CSC) celebrates our 25^th anniversary as a statutory board this year, at a time of greater complexity and uncertainty in the geopolitical and domestic environment, and a rapidly evolving technological landscape. These challenges require the Public Service to anticipate and deliver better; they increase the premium on speed, adaptability and effectiveness. Learning is no longer a supporting function — it is a strategic capability that helps the Public Service perform, and adapt and renew itself. 

To respond well, it will be more critical than ever for the Public Service to learn well. We must help public officers adapt to new demands, build new capabilities and raise performance. Learning preferences have shifted. Digital learning is now mainstream, and officers increasingly expect learning that is bite-sized, personalised and just-in-time. 

As the heart of learning and development (L&D) for the Public Service, the College has changed and adapted to keep pace. We have refreshed LEARN, our digital learning platform, to provide curated and relevant learning that officers can access easily, while enabling agencies to deliver learning customised to their particular needs. This reflects a deeper shift in how CSC understands its role: not only to provide learning, but also to help the Public Service translate capability into effective practice, better judgement and clearer outcomes. 

The College has advanced competency-driven growth through stronger programme design, robust assessment, and professional certification. We are making more adaptive use of digital and AI-enabled tools to diagnose learning needs, sharpen interventions and shorten the time to impact. We have also strengthened leadership development with refreshed approaches, revamped milestone programmes and greater use of diagnostic tools to help leaders and leadership teams. 

Our next stage of growth is about going beyond delivering learning differently. We want to elevate L&D as a strategic capability that supports organisational performance and transformation. This requires a reframe: moving from formal training to a broader set of interventions that help officers, teams and organisations perform and achieve outcomes. 

The College’s inaugural State of Learning in the Public Service report points in the same direction. Public officers increasingly value learning that is relevant to their work, shaped by peers and embedded in day-to-day routines at the workplace. This is why the College’s refreshed strategy is centred on performance-led L&D.  

In practice, this means diagnosing performance needs upstream, partnering agencies on performance consulting, and designing learning that is embedded in work, supported by digital and AI-enabled tools. We must look beyond learner participation or satisfaction. What matters is whether learning is applied, practices change, and organisational performance improves. 

Formal learning will continue to matter, especially in building foundational knowledge, common standards and shared understanding at scale. But it cannot be the only answer. The College aims to strengthen learning in the flow of work, where feedback loops are shorter and the impact on performance is more direct. 

To support these strategic shifts, the College is strengthening our core capabilities. We have established the Learning and Development Office to deepen L&D strategy, build professional L&D capabilities, and advance thought leadership for the Public Service. We have also set up the Enterprise Technology Group to bring together digital learning, technology, data and AI capabilities, to drive learning innovation at scale. 

This commemorative issue of ETHOS explores the next frontier of L&D in the Public Service in partnership with Ministries and agencies. As CSC enters its next lap, we will shape the future of learning: empower the Public Service to enhance its capacity to learn, adapt and excel in a changing world. 

Han Neng Hsiu
Dean and CEO, Civil Service College

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