About ISEN

Vista del Palacio San Martín (2023) ISEN is the institution that, in Argentina, is in charge of the training of the members of the Foreign Service of the Nation. This requires the selection of the applicants for the Diplomatic Career, their intensive training during an initial two-year cycle and their professional updating throughout the career. The Institute pursues these objectives through the following instances:

Promotion of the Carrer | The ISEN carries out an intense activity to encourage intrest in the diplomatic-consular career, through face-to-face and virtual talks at various universities and institutions. This seeks to guarantee federalism, gender equality and professional diversity of the members of the Foreign Service. This line of actions has been reinforced by the launching of the Diplomacia Criolla podcast, developed by a group of young Embassy Secretaries.

Concurso de ingreso (2023) Entry Contest | In addition to being a transparent selection mechanism, the ISEN Annual Public Admission Competition is the first of its the formative instances. This contest consists of 3 stages: a psychological assessment, a set of written tests and a diplomatic aptitude interview. Year after year, the ISEN updates the programs of the subjects.

Training Course | Those who are selected in the contest enter ISEN as candidates to the diplomatic career. Within this framework, they must take an intensive two-year training course. This course requires compulsory training in two languages and a series of professional practices in dependencies of the Ministry. Those who comply with all the obligations of the training course enter the Diplomatic Career in the rank of third party secretaries.

Oath Ceremony | Those who enter the Diplomatic Career have the obligation to take an oath to the Nation and the National Constitution. This oath is taken in a ceremony headed by the President of the Nation and organized together with ISEN. During this ceremony, the ISEN awards the prizes to the two candidates with the highest grades (gold and silver medals) as well as the following six distinctions: "Miguel Ángel Cárcano", for the best grades in international politics; "José María Ruda", for the best grades in public international law; "Elena Holmberg", for the best grades in diplomatic practice; "Leopoldo Hugo Tettamanti", for the best grades in Argentine economic and commercial policy; "Raúl Prebisch", for the best grades in economics and international economics; and "Rufino De Elizalde", for the best grades in consular subjects.

Professional Update Course | Those who reach the rank of first secretaries must take and approve a professional course, which is a requirement for promotion to the next rank. This virtual and intensive program is made up of seminars, workshops and conferences that aim to provide an update on knowledge and skills relevant to diplomatic-consular work, as well as to transmit the work guidelines of the different areas that make up the Ministry.

Professional Thesis | Those who work as counselors must prepare a professional thesis for the purposes of their promotion to the next rank, that is, that of second class minister. For these purposes, it is mandatory to attend a methodological workshop for the preparation of the thesis, offered by the ISEN in virtual mode. After approval of the workshop, they can present their thesis, which must be defended at the ISEN, before a 3 diplomats from the highest ranks of the career. This works allow to systematize the experience of the members of the Foreign Service who are averaging their careers and constitute a wealth of knowledge and reflections of high value for the remaining officials of the Foreign Service.

Language Courses | The Foreign Ministry recognizes 9 languages of interest for the performance of diplomatic-consular tasks: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Russian. Both the ISEN students and the diplomatic officers have the obligation to study and certify their knowledge in several of these languages in order to advance in their careers. Consequently, ISEN offers four-month courses in all these languages in line with the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).

Training of Trainers | Since most of the faculty members are foreign service officers, the ISEN promotes training activities in planning, pedagogy, and didactics especially aimed at improving the experience of course taking and evaluation of both aspirants and diplomats.

HISTORY

Listados de las promociones 1 a 55 (2022)

ISEN was created in 1963, after various efforts to institutionalize the country's diplomatic and consular training. Among its main antecedents and milestones are:

1. The laws of the diplomatic and consular service sanctioned in the year 1905, during the presidency of Manuel Quintana. Although these laws did not include a section on diplomatic-consular training, the regulations decreed by President José Figueroa Alcorta the following year, required that applicants for a diplomatic career pass a series of courses on law, politics, and geography, taught by the Buenos Aires' University.

2. The 1919 ministerial resolution that, during the government of Hipólito Yrigoyen, invited Ministry and Foreign Service personnel to attend courses offered by national universities related on the subject matter of diplomatic and consular work.

3. The establishment in 1922, in the city of Rosario, of a Degree for the Diplomatic Service and another Degree for the Consular Service in the National University of the Litoral. The first of these became in 1927 a Doctorate in Diplomacy.

Memoria de la Escuela de Política Internacional (1949)

4. The foundation in 1948 of the School of Diplomacy, dependent on the Ministry of International Relations and Worship during the administration of Juan Perón. This School, renamed in 1950 as the School of International Politics, was the first academic institution created at the Foreign Ministry, which guaranteed entry into the ranks of the Foreign Service.

5. The creation of the ISEN, in 1963, under the provisional government of Luis María Guido. Decree-Law 2,707 establishes the exams to take to enter the Institute and the regulations for those who were to be trained to enter the diplomatic-consular career.

6. The enactment, in 1975, of the Law on the Foreign Service of the Nation still in force (No. 20,957). During the government of Isabel Martínez de Perón, the current Organic Law of the Foreign Service of the Nation was sanctioned. There, a specific chapter dedicated to ISEN, which establishes its competence in the selection and training of members of the Foreign Service of the Nation.

7. The issuance, in 1987, of the corresponding regulatory decree. During the government of President Raúl Alfonsín, the aforementioned decree regulates the different selection and training instances that ISEN is in charge of.

Laws and regulations

The Institute of the Foreign Service of the Nation under the provisions of Foreign Service Law (No. 20,957) and regulated by Decree No. 1,973/86.

This regulatory framework is composed by the Regulations of the National Foreign Service Institute, approved by RESOL-2021-221-APN#MRE, as well as additional Ministerial Resolutions, Provisions of the Director of the Institute and amending regulations.

Regime of the Foreign Service of the Nation [Law No. 20,957]

Decree of the Law of the Foreign Service of the Nation [Decree No. 1.973/86]

ISEN Regulation [RESOL-2021-221-APN-MRE]

Resolution on Language Accreditation [RESOL-2016-595- APN-MRE]

Authorities

Per current regulations, the Institute is directed by an official of category "A" of the permanent active body of the Foreign Service of the Nation. Likewise, the Institute has a Deputy Director, also in charge of an official of the permanent active body of the Foreign Service of the Nation. The governing body is completed with a Directorate of Academic Affairs.

The current authorities of the Institute are:

The Director of the Institute, Ambassador Carlos R. Sersale di Cerisano

Premio KONEX 2018: Diplomaticos.

Born on 21/03/1950 in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a Masters (MIA) from Columbia University in New York and a Doctoral title from the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires. He has teaching experience at university level and has been published in Spanish and English. Prior to entering the Argentine Foreign Service he worked in the private sector as an economist in public investment projects. In January 2024, he was appointed director of the National Foreign Service Institute. Between 2016 and March 2020 he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Prior to this, between December 2005 and November 2015 he was resident Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa and non-resident Ambassador to nine SADC countries. During his period in Argentina between 2000 and 2005 he was Director of International Security, Nuclear and Spatial Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including the Presidency of the “Missile Technology Control Regime” (MTCR); Director General of Human Rights; Special Advisor to the Argentine Dialogue (UNDP/UN) from January to July 2002; and Undersecretary of International Economic Affairs in the Province of Buenos Aires. Between 1989-99 he was at the United Nations in New York both in his capacity as Argentine delegate and international UN official. Between 1987 and 1988 he was in charge of negotiations around the Treaty for the Special Associative Relationship with Italy and between 1982 and 1986 he was acting representative to the food organisations of the United Nations in Rome (FAO, WFP, IFAD and WFC). Prior to this, he was in Hong Kong in 1981 and between 1979 and 1980 he worked on matters relating to economic integration and regional cooperation. He entered the Argentine Foreign Service through public competition in 1979.

He has been published, featuring in various interviews in the written press, on television and on the radio. He is an honorary member and honorary consultant of various academic and business institutions.