Frequently asked questions

ISE is the Institute of Service Excellence, based in Kigali, Rwanda. It teaches and assesses service excellence at three professional levels and the certificates are issued by Trusted Rw.

It publishes taught courses in customer service, customer experience and service leadership, assesses candidates against the Trusted Rw Service Excellence Standard, and issues certificates that anyone can verify by number.

CSEO is the Certified Service Excellence Officer, the entry-level certification for people in direct customer contact: frontline staff, contact centre agents, receptionists and tellers.

CSEP is the Certified Service Excellence Professional, for practitioners who improve service rather than only deliver it. Candidates must show evidence of a measurable service or customer experience improvement.

CSEM is the Certified Service Excellence Manager, the senior credential for people accountable for the service other people deliver. It is assessed through a portfolio and a panel.

ISE teaches and assesses the pathway and Trusted Rw issues the certificates. Assessment is against TRW-SES 1.0, a published standard that anyone can read before deciding whether the credential means anything to them.

ISE is not accredited by a national qualifications authority, and the certifications are professional credentials rather than academic qualifications. What stands behind them is a published standard, a documented assessment method and a public verification page for every certificate issued.

Yes. All three courses are self-paced and online, built to be worked through in short modules on a phone rather than in a classroom.

Enter the certificate number on the verification page. It reports whether the certificate exists, who holds it, which level it is and whether it is still valid.

Service excellence and customer experience are the same discipline wherever they are practised. These certifications are built for people in customer-facing and service-leadership roles across tourism and hospitality, hotels and lodges, restaurants and tour operations, banking and microfinance, telecoms, retail, healthcare, logistics, and public service, whether you serve customers at the counter, design the experience behind them, or lead the teams that deliver it.

It is a professional credential showing that the holder has been assessed against a published customer service standard rather than simply claiming the skill. Trusted Rw issues 3 levels: Certified Service Excellence Officer (CSEO), Certified Service Excellence Professional (CSEP), Certified Service Excellence Manager (CSEM). Each is assessed, awarded with a certificate number, and publicly verifiable.

They are the post-nominal letters for the three levels: Certified Service Excellence Officer (CSEO), Certified Service Excellence Professional (CSEP), Certified Service Excellence Manager (CSEM). Holders may use them after their name while their certificate is valid.

Yes. The standard covers customer-facing service and customer experience in any sector, and is designed for roles in tourism and hospitality, hotels and lodges, restaurants and tour operations, as well as banking, telecoms, retail, healthcare and public service.

Entry is open at the first level: Open to anyone aged 18 or over who works in, or is actively seeking, a role with direct customer contact. No prior certification or experience is required. Higher levels ask for verifiable experience or the level below it. Each certification page lists its routes in full.

Current fees are CSEO 100,000 RWF; CSEP 150,000 RWF (Launch offer, normally 200,000 RWF, until 11 September 2026); CSEM 500,000 RWF. The fee covers assessment and, on a successful outcome, the certificate and digital badge. Where an offer is running, the figure shown is what you pay while it lasts, and the standard fee applies after it ends. Each certification page shows the fee payable today.

3 years from the date of award. Staying certified takes continuing professional development in each cycle (CSEO 20 hours, CSEP 30 hours, CSEM 40 hours), so a certificate reflects current practice rather than a one-off exam.

Every certificate carries a unique number that anyone can check on the verify page. It returns the holder, the level, the status and the dates, and nothing else.