The Civil Service Institute (CSI) began in March 1971 as the Staff Training Institute. The Institute’s mission then was to train new officers in the Administrative Service in modern management concepts and techniques.
In 1974, training was extended to officers in other services and expande to cover language and supervisory skills. In June 1975, the Institute was relocated to Heng Mui Keng Terrace and was renamed the Civil Service Staff Development Institute. The name was shortened to Civil Service Institute (CSI) in May 1979. CSI was later renamed The Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), focusing on training and developing other public officers in managerial, supervisory and operating skills.
To provide more focus on developing public sector leadership, an additional training arm, named The Institute of Policy Development (IPD), was established in 1993 to develop programmes in governance, policy development, and leadership development for senior public officers. In April 1996, IPAM together with IPD formed the Civil Service College (CSC). A third unit, the Civil Service Consulting Group (CSCG) was fomed to provide advisory services to organisations on people development issues and to help them implement the concepts, systems, and skill taught in IPD and IPAM. In August 2001, the Personal Guidance Unit (PGU), a psychometric assessment and development unit merged with CSCG to form CSC Consultants, providing in-depth consultancy.
As of 2008/2009, CSC’s vision is to become the Heart of Learning Excellence and Development for the Singapore Public Service, and its mission is to develop people for a first class public service. CSC is made up of two groups of units: the Business Units Group and the Support Units Group. Under the Business Units Group, seven units exist, namely: the Institute of Policy Development; the Centre for Governance and Leadership; the Centre for Public Economics; the Institute of Public Administration and Management; the CSC Consultants; the Public Service Centre for Organisational Excellence; and CSC International. Under the Support Units Group, three units exist, namely: the Corporate Development; the Finance; and the Capability and People Development.
