Incu Administration

The INCU is managed by the International Network of Customs Universities Management Group (INCU MG Incorporated), which is a not-for-profit association incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory (registration no. A04701). 

The INCU Management Group comprises the following institutions:

Centre for Customs and Excise Studies, University of Canberra, Australia

(represented by Prof David Widdowson) 

University of Munster, Germany

(represented by Prof Michael Wolffgang)

Cross-Border Research Association, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

(represented by Mr Juha Hintsa)

 Riga Technical University, Latvia

(represented by Prof Aivars Krastins and Mr Jan Janson)

Administrative support to the Management Group is provided by the Secretariat, located in Canberra, Australia. Among other things, the INCU Secretariat is responsible for circulating materials among INCU affiliates and, where appropriate providing the WCO with consolidated feedback. The Secretariat is headed by Mr. Mikhail Kashubsky, who is also the principal contact for the INCU website.

Working on the text

Ex.1. SKIMMING:

a. Read the headline and the first sentence of each paragraph of the text.  Pair up to discuss the topic of the article.

b. Read the first paragraph and the last paragraph of the text. Then work in pairs to discuss the contents of the piece.

c. Read the text. Get into pairs to discuss the contents of the piece. 

Ex.2. SCANNING:

a. While scanning the text find the answers for content-specific questions given by the teacher.

b. While scanning the text pick out the sentences containing the key words given by the teacher.

Ex.3. READING: Read and translate the text “International Network of Customs Universities (INCU)”.

Ex.4. TEXT QUESTIONS: Look back at the text and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.

• Ask your partner / group your questions.

Ex.5. VOCABULARY: Circle the words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

Ex.6. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations with each word.

Ex.7. CHAT: Discuss with your classmates the key ideas of the text.

Ex.8. INTERNET: Examine the site of INCU. Find some additional information on INCU activities.

EX.9. WRITING: Consult the ADDENDUM on Writing Instructions. Write a Newsletter on the nearest INCU event.

Ex.10. SPEAKING: In pairs speak about the INCU.

Text 2

International Activities of the Russian Customs Academy

Training and advanced training of Customs officers is carried out by the Russian Customs Academy (RCA). The RCA is the head institution of the Association on education in the field of Customs affairs. It unites 79 higher educational establishments of the Russian Federation.

On the basis of the RCA the World Customs Organization held three international workshops on the problems of determination of the Customs value, nonintrusive methods of examination techniques, and on the issues of Kyoto Convention.

A close co-operation of the RCA with the Customs Authorities of the CIS countries was arranged and their representatives responsible for training were opened in Moscow. The Academy trains 513 students from the States-members of CIS.

The main directions of International activity of the Russian Customs Academy are training for the customs authorities of the CIS, the work with the students from near and far abroad, organization of international seminars and conferences at the Regional Training Centre of the WCO, the organization of cooperation in manpower training and research with foreign universities as a part of an international network of customs universities “INCU”.

The International unit of the Academy consists of three departments: Assurance department of the Regional Training Centre of the WCO, International co-operation and working with foreign students Department and research laboratory of analysis and synthesis of customs international experience.

The departments of the International unit have organized and conducted a series of working meetings, conferences and seminars with representatives of various international organizations, signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian Customs Academy and the College of Customs and logistics of the High School of Economics (Warsaw) and the Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian customs Academy and the Riga Technical University.

On 05.12.2011 in accordance with the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Russian customs Academy (Russian Federation) and the National Academy of customs, excise and counter-narcotics (Republic of India) there have been carried out the student’s exchange of two universities. The advanced training included the holding of theoretical, practical (based on the departments of Academy) and field studies (with the customs authorities of the FCS of Russia), and also cultural programmes for members of the NACEN delegation.

The World Customs Organization secretariat positively evaluated the work of the Russian Regional Centre for the implementation in the learning process the e-learning program of the World Customs Organization. As a result the Moscow Regional Centre was awarded with four certificates given to representatives of the academic staff of the Academy.

One of the main activities of the Regional Centre of the Academy is based on the organizational work for the production of electronic customs magazine in conjunction with RTC- Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine) and RTC - Skopje (Macedonia).

In the electronic scientific magazine highlighted the main customs aspects of customs activity: cooperation of customs authorities and business communities, training of customs officers, the introduction of standards of the WCO, the achievements in the field of customs, the development of scientific knowledge.