Customs education. Customs business: specialty profile in Russian universities

“Customs” is one of the most popular specialties in the modern world, because the number of countries ready to cooperate and engage in trade is increasing every day. This means that the state needs experienced and qualified specialists who will be able to ensure full compliance with customs agreements and customs policy in general. Where can I study the specialty “Customs Affairs”? Universities in Moscow offer the best choice in terms of the ratio of the quality of education to its cost.

Customs: definition

Methods and means of resolving customs issues related to the transportation of goods across the state border, the rules of prohibition and various restrictions when moving vehicles through customs - all this can be considered the definition of “customs business”. Universities offer another designation option.

Customs is a branch that regulates the foreign economic activity of the state, namely: trade, transportation of large goods across the state border. It turns out that this profession requires deep theoretical knowledge of economics (which can be obtained if you enroll in the Institute of Customs Affairs), as well as practical experience in preparing commodity documentation, declaring goods, and skills in management and accounting, because you will have to maintain tax reports and accepting payments, penalties and duties for one or another violation during transportation through customs.

Features of the profession

The profession of a customs specialist is in demand not only in customs authorities, but also in various brokerage companies, credit institutions, enterprises engaged in foreign economic activity or logistics. A specialist in this field must have extensive knowledge and skills. Here are some of them:

• have a good legal education;
• be able to manage the activities of customs authorities;
• keep records of funds (payments, taxes);
• analyze trade statistics;
• correctly prepare documentation;
• know how customs logistics works, and at any time carry out the necessary procedures to optimize the economic activity of the enterprise.

universities in Moscow

The profession of a customs officer is very responsible and complex, however, it is considered very prestigious and highly paid. That is why many applicants choose the specialty "Customs". Universities in Moscow have always been famous for their advanced teaching methods, so let's look at which of them teach in this specialty.

It is worth noting that before choosing a specific university, you need to decide the following questions for yourself: “State or private university?”, “Select the faculty of customs on the basis of a contract or are there any chances of enrolling in the budget?” The capital offers the widest selection of universities, so everyone can find exactly the university that suits them both in terms of tuition cost and quality.

The next step when choosing a specialty in Customs is exams. What subjects do I need to take and for how many points? Let's figure out which universities offer internal exams, and which ones enroll you in studies based on the results of the Unified State Exam.

State budget universities: TOP-3

Over the past 15 years, major changes have occurred: many universities have opened new specialties and areas. One of the most prestigious and promising areas can be called “Customs Affairs”. Universities in Moscow can be divided into two groups: the first includes all state universities, and the second includes private institutions that have received state accreditation and issue a state diploma at the end of their studies.

For many applicants, the opportunity to study on a budget basis is the main criterion when choosing a future university. Here are the best universities in the capital that you can enter by gaining the required number of points on the Unified State Exam:

1. Russian (named after Plekhanov) - the requirements here are very high, for admission you need to score an average of 82 points for each subject (Russian language, foreign language and social studies).
2. RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation - this university does not have an institute of customs affairs, however, at the Faculty of Law and National Security there is a direction in “Customs Affairs”. The passing score for past years is approximately 270 for the same subjects as at Plekhanov University.
3. - an educational institution located near Moscow (in Lyubertsy). The academy has a faculty of customs affairs, the average number of admission points is 250 for three subjects. One of the advantages of this university is the largest number of budget places, 250 of them, while in others the maximum number is only 20.

State universities offering tuition fees

The number of fee-paying universities is increasing every year, as the demand for education is also growing. This is especially noticeable in Moscow: after graduating from school and passing the Unified State Exam, many applicants decide to enter the capital’s universities and come here from the most remote regions of Russia. It is not surprising, because it is in the capital that you can find a university that meets all the wishes and capabilities of the applicant:

1. offers training on a contract basis, both for those who have passed the Unified State Exam and for those who wish to pass internal exams. At the Faculty of Economics, applicants are invited to choose three directions, including “Customs.” The cost of training is within 200 thousand rubles per year.
2. MADI is another university specializing in training in Customs Affairs. The passing score is 120. The cost for a year of study at the Faculty of Logistics and General Transport Problems is 147 thousand rubles.
3. Emperor Nicholas MGUPS is one of the oldest universities in the capital, the law institute consists of 6 areas, one of which is customs. The passing score is 180, and the cost of training is 198 thousand rubles for one academic year.

Private universities

Applicants who score the minimum points on the Unified State Exam have the opportunity to enroll in non-state universities on a paid basis. Below is an overview of the most prestigious universities with state accreditation:

1. The Moscow Institute of Jurisprudence is one of the most affordable universities, the cost of training is only 65 thousand rubles per year. At the same time, it is possible to enroll without passing the Unified State Exam; instead, you need to pass tests conducted by the university independently.
2. MFLA offers high-quality training at relatively low prices: 100 thousand rubles for the first year of study, then some discounts are possible. The university accepts students both on the basis of the Unified State Examination results and internal exams. Foreign citizens also have the opportunity to enroll in this institution; they just need to pass an oral exam in the Russian language and write a short essay.
3. Moscow University named after V. S. Yutte is one of the five best non-state universities in the capital. The cost of training at the Faculty of Economics and Finance is 110 thousand rubles, and the passing score is 100.

Whatever university you choose, remember that the main component of successful education is not the prestige of the educational institution, but your personal efforts.

Training of customs specialists is a synthesis of legal and foreign economic disciplines. Students undergo international trade, settlements and foreign exchange markets, commodity science and examination in customs, customs management. Get acquainted with the specifics of document flow in customs authorities and pricing in foreign trade. They study the intricacies of customs procedures, customs control, customs clearance of goods and vehicles. They study the economics of customs affairs.

Key disciplines:

• Declaration of goods and vehicles
• Document flow in customs authorities
• International trade, settlements and foreign exchange markets
• Customs procedures
• customs control
• Customs management
• Commodity research and expertise in customs affairs
• Economics of customs
• Ethics of business communication in the customs sector
• Basics of customs affairs
• Commodity research, expertise in customs affairs of food and non-food products
• Commodity nomenclature of foreign trade activities
• Finance
• General management
• Customs clearance of goods and vehicles
• Customs regimes and special customs procedures
• Declaration of goods and vehicles
• Organization of customs control of goods and vehicles
• Basics of technical means of customs control
• Customs control technologies (workshop)
• Customs control after the release of goods
• Customs and tariff regulation of foreign trade activities
• Prohibitions and restrictions on foreign trade activities
• Currency regulation and exchange control
• Foreign trade documentation
• Institutes of administrative and customs law regulating the activities of customs authorities
• Identification and basis for the investigation of administrative offenses within the competence of customs authorities
• Basics of qualification of crimes in the field of customs affairs
• Fundamentals of investigation of crimes within the competence of customs authorities
• Basics of document flow in customs authorities
• Personnel management in customs authorities
• Customs administration
• Customs management
• Contracts and foreign trade documentation
• International customs cooperation
• Prosecutor supervision
• Organization of currency control in various customs regimes
• Customs payments in various customs regimes
• International conventions and agreements on trade
• Workshop on the application of customs duties
• Theory and practice of using customs control means
• International law
• International private law
• Constitutional law
• Constitutional law of foreign countries
• Criminal law and criminal procedure
• Administrative law
• National security
• National and regional policy
• Basics of systems analysis
• Accounting
• Customs management
• Economics of customs
• Economic security
• Analysis of the financial and economic activities of the enterprise
• Business planning
• Fundamentals of foreign trade
• Entrepreneurship in the customs sector
• Pricing in foreign trade
• Economic potential of the customs territory of Russia
• Information customs technologies
• Customs statistics
• Economic theory
• Ethics of public service and civil servant
• Sociology
• Management
• Customs value control
• Workshop on control of contract prices

Future customs specialists undergo educational and practical training in freight forwarding companies where customs clearance of cargo takes place; customs terminals; companies conducting export-import operations with goods; customs brokerage companies performing customs clearance of goods.

Will hundreds more teenagers die from drugs passing through a corrupt border post? Will a batch of counterfeit medicines that could affect the health of thousands of citizens be imported into the country? Will a terrorist planning a large-scale attack with dozens of casualties pass through using false documents? Without exaggeration, it will depend on you. The profession of a customs officer is an amazing combination of routine paperwork with enormous responsibility and unconditional respect for the specialty.

Story

The profession has been known since ancient times. Even though thousands of years ago it was not represented by a modern specialty, guardians of the borders of countries, empires and occupied territories have always occupied a special place in society. The profession appeared synchronously with the formation of the first centralized states. It is impossible to name the exact date, but this definitely happened at the beginning of the development of world society. The impetus for the development of prototypes of modern customs came from the beginning of trade between countries.

Hundreds of years ago, caravans with goods passing through the borders of countries were subject to taxes. This was necessary to ensure the replenishment of the treasury. In Rus', customs began around the 9th century, when duties and a trade tax - “myto” - were introduced in the principalities. The collectors of myt were called “mytniks”. It is interesting that in modern Ukrainian language a customs officer is a mitnik.

Customs – what kind of profession is it?

A customs officer is a civil servant whose responsibilities include monitoring goods transported across the border, passing people, collecting fees and customs duties. As a rule, university graduates begin work as ordinary inspectors. Later they become senior inspectors, heads of department. A brilliant career will allow you to take the chair of a policy developer in the field of customs, and perhaps one of the leaders of the state apparatus. But over 90% of specialists forever remain simple inspectors.

What are the duties of a customs officer:

• Conduct inspections of citizens and cargo at customs posts, train stations and airports.
• Prepare customs documentation, collect fees and duties.
• Detect contraband and prohibited goods.
• Keep records of confiscated cargo.
• Conduct investigations of offenses within the competence of customs law.

In addition to the general profession, there are several narrow specialties - checkpoint officer, passport control worker, department specialist and others.

The work as a whole cannot be called interesting or at least somewhat creative - it is complex, routine, sometimes boring or dangerous, but always extremely responsible. The security of the state, in particular economic, largely depends on customs officers. Failure of specialists to fulfill their duties, corruption and a simple lack of employees can lead to a real tragedy.

Minimum romance - maximum hard work. Customs officers meet trains and check people heading to the country, inspect cargo, and establish compliance of documentation with Russian and international standards. Often the industry employs dog handlers who specialize in searching for goods, drugs and other substances prohibited for import into the country. Is the profession of a customs officer suitable for a girl? Quite if she is ready to cope with hard work and take on a huge burden of responsibility. There are many women working in this area – about 35% of the total number of employees.

Where to study to be a customs officer

You can become a customs inspector without specialized education. But you definitely need to graduate from university to get a better chance of building a brilliant career. The more prestigious and authoritative it is, the better. TOP 5 universities in Russia that teach customs:

1. Russian Customs Academy.
2. Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
3. Economic University named after. Plekhanov.
4. Technological University in Korolev.
5. University named after Witte.

The average passing grade in one subject exceeds 85.5, so getting into the best universities in the country is not so easy. But it’s still worth submitting documents - you don’t lose anything. However, at the same time, we recommend that you try to enroll in several more universities or institutes that you like. Remember that studying at a reputable, ranking university will give you advantages at the start of your career, but will not predetermine success.

Pros and cons of the specialty

Advantages and disadvantages will directly depend on the position held. It is obvious that a senior official or policy maker in the customs industry feels quite comfortable. But since we are not presenting a presentation of the opportunities and prospects of the industry, but an analysis of the real state of affairs, we will note the pros and cons of ordinary professions - inspectors, checkpoint employees, airports and train stations.

Key pros :

• Respectable, respected profession.
• A special mission is to ensure the country's security at the borders.
• Benefits – customs officers are often treated like military personnel.
• Possible supplements to pensions and social benefits.
• Civil service with all provided privileges.

Main flaws:

• Low level of comfort.
• Average and sometimes downright low salaries.
• Bureaucracy and paperwork.
• Rampant corruption.
• The highest level of responsibility.
• Constant pressure from people who disregard the law.

Many experts admit that the salary does not correspond to working conditions and level of responsibility.

In most cases, this is important, hard and at the same time low-paid work. Bureaucracy, working in a confined space, all-round pressure - this is what 99% of customs officers at the start face. However, they can be compensated not only by opportunities for career growth, but also by benefits, privileges, and the respectability of the profession.

How much do customs officers earn?

Imagine: you have dreamed of this profession since childhood. They imagined themselves as the defender of the state borders of their country. You wrote an essay at school on the topic “My future profession is a customs officer.” Then we entered a university, graduated and started working. But your level of well-being leaves much to be desired. This industry cannot be called the most “money-rich”.

Do you remember the wonderful film “White Sun of the Desert” and its hero, customs officer Vereshchagin? There was no longer either a border or a country whose interests he stood guard over, and Vereshchagin still guarded his customs. “I don’t take bribes. I feel bad for the state!” – the catchphrase of this handsome strongman with principles and sovereign thinking has become the personification of the portrait of a real customs officer.

Remember the wonderful film “White Sun of the Desert” and its hero customs officer Vereshchagin in the magnificent performance of Pavel Luspekayev? There was no longer a border or a country whose interests he stood guard over, and Vereshchagin still guarded his customs, looking with disgust at the watermelons and black caviar that his wife fed him day after day. “I don’t take bribes. I feel bad for the state!” – the catchphrase of this handsome strongman with principles and sovereign thinking has become the personification of the portrait of a real customs officer.

This is exactly how principled and conscientious a person should be who guards state interests. Should be - this is the key phrase, since the portrait of a modern customs officer is very different from the “film” one. And the point is not that there are no Vereshchagins left in the modern world, but that many young people choose the profession of a customs officer thoughtlessly. They are seduced by the supposed benefits, forgetting about the significance and features of this profession. Therefore, today we will try to talk about all the nuances, disadvantages and advantages of the customs officer profession, and we hope that this will help you consciously approach the choice of your future job.

Who is a customs officer?

Customs officer is an employee of the state customs service who monitors the movement of people, things, vehicles, goods and other items across the customs border, as well as carries out customs clearance and collection of customs duties.

The name of the profession comes from the Old Russian word tamga (seal, tax, duty), which in turn has Turkic roots. Note that in Ancient Rus' customs was called mytney (from the word myt - the name of the payment collected by local princes). Story customs officer profession originates in ancient times, when the first foreign economic relations between states arose. It was then that the need arose to control goods and people crossing borders. This is what the very first customs officers did, and their activities have remained virtually unchanged since then.

Today, as before, the job of a customs officer is to clear goods transported across the state border. The professional responsibilities of this specialist include:

• registration of documentation for cargo;
• cargo inspection at customs, screening of citizens at the airport or train station;
• detection of contraband and goods prohibited for import or export;
• work at checkpoints;
• accounting of confiscated goods;
• investigation of offenses in the field of customs law.

More specifically, the customs officer must check the documentation for the goods and draw up his own declarations, determine the country of import and export of the goods and determine the amount of duties and their quantity, allow the cargo and citizens to cross the border. By the way, the range of duties of customs officers is so wide that within the profession there are several narrow specializations that depend on the specialist’s place of work: checkpoint worker, passport control worker, international customs department employees, etc. Therefore, when crossing the border, citizens, as a rule, have to deal with a variety of representatives of this profession. It does not matter where exactly this border passes: at the airport, at the railway station or in the sea harbour.

What personal qualities should a customs officer have?

Customs officer's work is associated with certain risks and temptations that impose a number of requirements on representatives of this profession. Firstly, they must be distinguished by a high degree of patriotism, integrity and honesty. In addition, any customs officer must have such personal qualities as:

I would also like to say something about intuition. It is visually very difficult to determine whether a person or vehicle is carrying prohibited cargo or not. But experienced customs officers do this according to some signs that only they understand, “pulling the thread,” gradually unwinding the ball. In doing so, they rely not so much on knowledge of psychology and practical skills, but on their own intuition.

Also, the customs officer is required to have impeccable knowledge of the laws, legal and legal subtleties, rules for maintaining documentation and proficiency in an official business style of speech. Economic knowledge is also necessary for a customs officer, especially those related to trade turnover.

Advantages of being a customs officer

Ask any customs officer: what are the advantages of his profession. And you will definitely hear in response: of great importance for society. After all, it is customs officials who guard the country’s national security, preventing the import of contraband and preventing the free movement of terrorists.

Undoubtedly advantage of being a customs officer can also be called demand. As customs continues to expand as a result of increased trade volumes and the number of people crossing the border, young professionals will find it easy to find employment.

Customs officers have the right to benefits, for example, early retirement and a substantial increase in it. Customs officers involved in checkpoints, searching for contraband and prohibited goods are treated like military personnel and, accordingly, can count on the same benefits.

Thanks to the specifics of the job, a customs officer develops very well his powers of observation, analytical skills, intuition, memory and attentiveness. These qualities, without any doubt, are useful not only when performing professional duties, but also in everyday life. And the skills and knowledge in the field of jurisprudence and foreign economic activity acquired while working at customs will allow a former customs officer to easily obtain a leadership position in a commercial enterprise.

Disadvantages of the customs officer profession

Foremost disadvantage of the customs officer profession– this is constant pressure from people who want to circumvent customs rules, avoid paying duties or import prohibited goods. We can say that almost every customs officer has the risk of encountering them. Not everyone can resist temptation, resist, and remain an honest employee under the pressure of this kind of temptation.

This leads to the next disadvantage of this profession - high staff turnover. According to statistics, in our country customs is one of the most corrupt systems, and only 2-3% of customs officers can be called crystal clear. Well, since our state is actively fighting corruption and regularly introducing more and more anti-corruption measures, the ranks of customs service employees are often “cleansed”.

The disadvantages of this profession are also associated with the psychological stress that exists in the work. The constant need to be fully prepared, to strain attention and memory can lead to nervous breakdowns, stress and prolonged depression.

Where can you become a customs officer?

To become a customs officer It is not at all necessary to have a specialized education. However, since this profession requires a large amount of diverse knowledge, having a higher education is generally a prerequisite. Knowledge and skills in the field of customs can be obtained through special courses.

But still, we recommend obtaining this profession at specialized universities, since in this environment graduates of customs academies are valued most of all. In addition, only highly qualified customs officers can count on rapid career growth, especially if their education in the specialty “Customs Affairs” was received in such best universities in Russia, How.