The Russian Customs Academy Overview
(Welcome letter to the participants of the 13- th International Exhibition “Customs Service 2011”, of V.S. Chechevatov, the Head of the Russian Customs Academy)
Dear friends!
The State public educational institution of high professional education “The Russian customs Academy” (RCA) was founded on 22 September 1993 by the decision of Russian Federation Government.
The Academy – is a basic high educational institution of Educational and methodological Association of high educational institutions in the field of customs which consists of 74 educational institutions of the country.
Academy’s structure, which has three brunches – in Vladivostok, Rostov-on-Don and St. Petersburg consists of two institutes –The Institute of E-Learning, retraining and qualification improvement and the Institute of law enforcement activity, three faculties – the Faculty of customs affairs, The Faculty of law and the Faculty of economics, 24 departments, postgraduate and doctoral.
Today at the departments of the Academy work more than 50 doctors of science and professors, more than 200 candidates of science and associate professors.
In RCA there is a modern informational-educational environment, the basis of which is the situation and analytical training centre with the help of which it is possible to connect with real functioning structures of FCS of Russia and its regional customs departments, and also the system of distant education, of FCS of Russia employees is being successfully developed.
The scientific activity of the Academy is many sided and effective; it involves organizational, researching, informational and library – informational fields.
During the graduate school in RCA, where 250 people are studying today, for all of form of studying, they have opportunity to get high scientific and scientific-pedagogical qualifications as well as the citizens of foreign states.
In the Academy is actively conducted educational work, which includes both spiritual and moral dimensions as well as sports and rehabilitate aspects.
In order to provide training, research and other activities at the Academy there are: 2 training and laboratory complexes, educational and scientific building, a library, a fitness centre (2 gyms, shooting range, and skiing lodge), 2 hotel buildings, a canteen.
According to the “Memorandum of Understanding between the World Customs Organization and the State Customs Committee of the Russian Federation” of 25 November 2002, the Academy has received international status and now it is the Regional Training Centre of the World Customs Organization, which is training a highly qualified customs personnel, providing organization and holding regional meetings on personnel training issues.
The strategy of development for the Russian Customs Academy was worked out up to 2015 and approved by the Head of the Federal Customs Service. The aim of the Academy – is to become a University up to 2013, which will require increasing the number of training issues for students and the number of graduates. And at the same time remember that the competitiveness of graduates of our educational institution should be the highest and the customs authorities should be staffed mainly by our graduates.
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 “The Russian Customs Academy Overview”.
Ex.4. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about the Russian customs academy.
Ex.5. 2-MINUTE DEBATES:Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following 2-minute debates. The subject is “I am a student of the Russian customs academy”. Speak about the educational and scientific activities of the academy.
Ex.6. HIGHER EDUCATION BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the words ‘Higher educational institution’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.
Ex.7. 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.8. WRITING: Write a Welcome Letter for the annual scientific students conference.
Ex.9. COMPUTER PRESENTATION:Make a computer presentation on RCA.
Ex.10. SPEAKING: Speak on the topic.
GRAMMAR REVISION
Ex.1. REPORTED SPEECH: Complete the sentences in reported speech. Note whether the sentence is a request, a statement or a question.
1. He said, "I like this song."
He said ______________
2. "Where is your sister?" she asked me.
She asked me ___________
3. "I don't speak Italian," she said.
She said _____________
4. "Say hello to Jim," they said.
They asked me ___________
5. "The film began at seven o'clock," he said.
He said ____________
6. "Don't play on the grass, boys," she said.
She told the boys ______________
7. "Where have you spent your money?" she asked him.
She asked him ______________
8. "I never make mistakes," he said.
He said __________________
9. "Does she know Robert?" he wanted to know.
He wanted to know _________________
10. "Don't try this at home," the stuntman told the audience.
The stuntman advised the audience _______________
WORKING ON THE ARTICLE
The Russia Experience
by: Niranjan Chandrashekhar Cheriyamane
About the author: The author is an officer of Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise) of 2008 batch. He is presently posted as Assistant Comissioner in Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate in Delhi. The views expressed by him in the article are his personal views. He visited RCA in 2011.
It was a rare privilege to be one among the five officers of the 2008 Batch, nominated to attend the 12-day Training Programme on “Customs Examination and related issues” in the Russian Customs Academy (RCA), Lubertsy, Moscow. The programme was in exchange to a similar visit to NACEN in March 2011 by five trainees of the RCA, pursuant to a 2006 MoU between the two apex training institutions on co-operation in capacity building and annual exchange of trainees.
The RCA stint was truly enriching and I returned a wiser man – professionally sounder and intellectually healthier. I, in this Article, have made an attempt to bring forth the essence of my RCA tenure, with special reference to the professional aspect of it, although cultural visits and cultural exchange were an important component of the RCA schedule. Because, above all, true justice to knowledge can only be done when knowledge is shared.
Fundamental difference in the nature and character of our Academies, i.e., NACEN vis-à-vis RCA: Student aspirants who choose to make Customs a career option seek admission to the RCA after their High School(Class X). The age bracket at entry is between 16-18 years. It is University for them, a 5-year Graduate Programme, a professional education-one could say. Marks/Grading in High School determine entry to RCA, unlike the competitive entry in India. Admissions are open to students from across the Russian Federation, with some seats earmarked for aspirants from the CIS countries also.
The RCA has three other Branches at Vladivostok, Rostov-on-Don and St.Petersburg, the three cardinal points of the Russian mainland.
There are three broad streams of specialization in RCA:
(i) Customs Administration/Business (with Customs Assessment and
(ii) Customs Control/Prevention as components)
(ii) (Customs) Law
(iii) Economics
The RCA, Moscow has a total of around 3,000 students. The graduates have an option to pursue their own private practise. However, about 90% of the graduates do join the Federal Customs Service of Russia (FCSR). Some opt for post-graduation and doctoral studies and continue at the Academy for longer. 90% of the top management at RCA are retired Armed Forces or Paramilitary officers, who are rehabilitated here after their pensionable service. It may be noted here that with Russia’s vast land and sea frontiers and its dwindling male population, all men are obliged to compulsorily serve in the Army for one year.
Armed Forces officers are held in high regard by the State and still wield considerable clout in the higher echelons of the Russian administration. No wonder they run the show in the FCSR and the RCA as well.
Quality of training at RCA and lessons for NACEN: The training regimen at RCA is rigorous, technology-intensive and of a highly professional nature. It comprises of regular project work, assignments and surprise Tests. The students are always on their toes. The performance in the assignments and surprise Tests are reflected in the overall grading. The final six-months of the 5-year graduate programme is dedicated to Project work, where the students are on their own and are free to visit any field Customs Station relevant to their Project. The performance in the Project work assignment has a heavy bearing on the final marks/grading.
During the basic 5-year programme, apart from the academic Customs subjects, related disciplines such as History of Art, History of Science and Philosophy are taught. When asked about their relevance from one of the students, I was impressed to hear that knowledge of ‘History of Art’ enables the Customs officer to appreciate the quality and cultural significance of an object of Art; its vintage and artistic worth; and its originality or otherwise - thereby enabling in assessing its genuineness and market value.
‘Commodity expertise’, for instance, is a specialization within the ‘Customs Administration’ arm. This set of officers specialize in HSN classification of goods and ‘Laboratory Analysis’ is a predominant component of their training curriculum. We visited one of the Laboratories where a practical session was in progress and young turks there claimed they were ‘the best of the best!’. That is the pride they take in their chosen field of work, truly worthy of emulation.
The Russian Customs has state-of-the-art equipment and cutting edge technology deployed in its field stations, and almost all of these equipment are installed in the RCA laboratories for hands-on training.
The RCA, realized the significance of English in global communication, has compulsory English language training in the first two years of the 5-year programme. Perhaps, NACEN could take a leaf out of the RCA book and have one non-English Foreign Language in its curriculum as well. Also, the RCA is mature as an institution and has specialised Departments, including the “Department for International Co-operation” – which was dealing with us. NACEN could also evolve along these lines.