Fit for Purpose: FSI Looks Forward to 2024 and Beyond (2024)

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is engaged in a multi-year effort to strengthen the State Department’s culture of learning and improve both what we teach and how we teach.

To prepare U.S. foreign affairs professionals to excel in today’s rapidly changing international arena, FSI launched new courses, trainings, and non-classroom learning tools focused on the issues that are redefining national security. These educational resources focus on climate change, economic development, multilateralism, global health, China, and cyber diplomacy and emerging technologies in support of the Secretary’s Modernization Agenda, along with new offerings in leadership and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).

To ensure all employees have the opportunity to enhance their skills, FSI partnered with the Bureau of Global Talent Management (GTM) to roll out the Department’s first Learning Policy. Designed to foster a culture of career-long learning, the Learning Policy provides all State Department employees the opportunity to engage in up to 40 hours of learning activities beyond any mandatory training and encourages them to set annual learning goals.

The Core Curriculum, a highly recommended series of courses for all mid-career Civil Service and Foreign Service personnel launched last year, serves as a framework for these learning goals. It addresses leadership, strategic planning, budget management, communications, negotiation, and working in the interagency – key skills identified in multiple internal and external reports as foundational for foreign affairs professionals. All of these changes are designed to ensure our diplomatic corps has the knowledge, skills, and educational resources it needs to navigate the rapidly changing landscape of international relations and to strengthen our national security at home and abroad.

Joan Polaschik

Director, Foreign Service Institute