The National Institute of Administration, (Arabic: الْمَعْهَدُ الْوَطَنيٍّ لِلْإِدَارَةِ الْعَامَّةِ|al-Maʿhad al-Waṭanī li l-ʾIdārat al-ʿAmmāh; French: Institut national d'administration) is a Syrian government school responsible for the training of civil servants in management and administration. Its main office and training center is located in At-Tal, near Damascus.
The Institute was created in 2002 by President Bashar al-Assad to support the modernization of civil service in Syria. INA was the fruit of cooperation between France and Syria. The French Ecole national administration provided technical assistance until 2011.[1]
The founding principle of the Institute National d'Administration (INA) is to provide professional training for senior civil servants.[2]
The Institute emphasizes the ethics of government service, based on the values of responsibility, political neutrality and service. INA uses a broad approach that cuts across ministerial or specialist lines and includes law, public finance, applied economics, Arab, regional and international issues, local regions and e-government.[3] public-sector management, including team and project management, monitoring and evaluating efforts involving multiple agencies, and human resources management, all in a constantly changing environment.
Admission to INA is based on a competitive examination[4] that people take after completing university studies. It is open to civil servants and non-civil servants and proceeded by a preparation cycle of seven months. The competitive exam includes essays on:
An oral exam, taken by those with the highest marks in the written exam, covering: