Initially, the Institute provided Foundational training to the newly recruited officers of State Administrative Service only. Under this, courses of 10-12 weeks duration were organized with the objective of broadening the horizon of the officer trainees. In later years, realising the importance of on-the-job training, a sandwich pattern of training was introduced from 1959. Under this pattern, the new recruits were given 12 weeks of foundational training in the first phase. This was followed by 34 weeks of training in different departments at the district level as well as by block and anchal training. After this field training, they were required to come for the second phase (of 6 weeks) of final institutional training. The Institute was also entrusted with the responsibility of drawing up programmes for on-the-job training in the districts and also to oversee and monitor its implementation. A decade later this pattern was revised and now the trainees get only 14 weeks foundational training at the Institute. Since this Institute was a pioneer in developing such standardized training modules, many states in eastern region, including Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim used to send their officers for training.

        The decades following the seventies have seen manifold expansion in the training courses offered by the Institute. The Institute opened its doors for training of officers of various other departments, besides arranging refresher courses for officers of middle level seniority, State Appreciation Courses for IAS (Probationers) and Indian Forest Service (Probationers).
The Department of Training and Personnel, Govt. of India has identified this Institute as a suitable training center for conducting courses sponsored by them. These courses, that are specific to states, cover a wide range of subjects related to development and management.

TRAINING AIDS

       The Institute is equipped with all modern training aids. It has a well-organized Computer Center, where Computer Awareness training is imparted to all probationers of State Administrative Service as well as other state services. It also has a modern auditorium and class rooms.

LIBRARY

The Institute offers excellent Library facilities with a stock of over 25,000 up-to-date books on Public Administration, Management, Law, Economics, Sociology and other related Social Sciences. It subscribes to almost 60 national and international journals and periodicals. The library has also got a reprographic section, which provides for Xerox facilities. Modern documentation facilities are also available. Besides, the officers, staff and the trainees of SKIPA, the membership of the Library is open to all gazetted officers posted at Ranchi. The process of computerization of the library is in progress and it is expected to be completed shortly.