Development History
The master degree education of Shanghai Customs College began in 2012.
In December 2012, the Office of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee officially approved as a trial institution with bachelor degree conferring authority to offer master's degree under the Personnel Development Program for National Special Needs, cultivating master candidates in taxation on trial basis.
In September 2013, the first-year master candidates in taxation were enrolled.
In May 2018, the college officially became an institution with bachelor degree conferring authority at the approval of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee, with two master's degree programs, namely, Public Administration and Taxation. The program of Customs Administration was recognized with World Customs Organization PICARD certification.
In September 2018, the college enrolled master candidates in Public Administration within the national customs system and from the society for the first time.
In May 2019, under the guidance of President Cong Yuhao, the college actively applied for the project Forging the High Ground for High-caliber Master Candidates in Alignment with the WCO Standards, and was successfully incorporated into the list of Leading Plan for First-rate Master’s Degree Education of Higher Education Institutions in Shanghai. In order to forge the high ground for first-rate master candidates and further promote the quality and innovative development of master’s degree education, we should cultivate applied, versatile, foreign-oriented, high-quality and high-level personnel and build a broad platform for the "strengthening of talents" strategy of China Customs and the development of the country's economy and foreign trade.
Objective of Cultivation
The college aimed at, based on the customs, cultivating high-level, applied and versatile professionals who have sound political and ideological quality and professional ethics, command solid basic theory and systematic professional knowledge, and equipped with customs characteristics and sound ability to solve practical problems or capable of professional technical or management duties.
Teaching Faculty
The college has faculty members who are active at the forefront of global customs research, including teachers participating in the preparation and amendment of WCO tariff rules and valuation agreements among others,participating in negotiation of free trade zone agreements on behalf of China Customs, carrying out capacity-building work such as "cargo release time" diagnosis for many countries, providing customs technical assistance in African countries such as Ethiopia and participating in customs think tank research, customs affairs consultation and international postgraduate education of first-rate international universities. Our supervisors are comprised of own faulty, customs experts, leading figures in professional fields and enterprise executives who supervise the postgraduates to propose, write, modify and defense their graduation dissertation evolving around the national strategy, customs reform and local economic development.
The college continuously deepens the working mechanism of tripartite joint cultivation, establishes the platform of cooperation among the customs, the college and enterprises, builds a team of full-time and part-time teachers and supervisors, and jointly develops practical teaching projects and cutting-edge courses with customs characteristics to provide decision-making and consulting services for customs development. Systematic arrangements are made from such aspects as supervisor selection, professional training, dual-supervisor mechanism and performance appraisal. Supervisors within the college and those from the customs system are maintained at the same time, and a strict management system for the selection, training and appraisal of supervisors within the college and from the customs system is put in place.
Characteristics of Education
The educational philosophy of staying true to the country, the customs and the college is put forward to cultivate national awareness, professional ethics and correct values of the postgraduates, building them into high-level applied professionals with firm political position and excellent professional skills.
Equal emphasis are placed on theoretical teaching and practical teaching to realize the multi-channel and diversification of practical teaching. Relying on the advantage of the customs and combining the needs of professional practice, the college has established several postgraduate practice bases jointly with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Customs, Shanghai Deloitte Accounting Firm, Shanghai Taiyue Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Zhongrui Jiangnan Tax Accountants Firm, Ruihua Accounting Firm Shanghai Branch among others. Two of these bases were listed as Shanghai Postgraduate Practice Base under the Shanghai Postgraduate Education Reform Experimental Project sponsored by the Shanghai Education Commission. So far, the construction plans for these two municipal-level practice bases have been prepared and implemented according to the cultivation objective, and a practical teaching system integrating the customs, the college and enterprises is put in place.
Academic Environment
Relying on the WCO Asia-Pacific Training Center, customs centers of countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative, and a number of national scientific research platforms such as the National Customs Information Center, the college has effectively integrated the first-rate customs research teams and resources at home and abroad in coordination with 6 leading customs research centers and 17 scientific research and innovation teams, and invested resources to build a number of laboratories such as the one relating to revenue collection.
customs education has its industrial background. Customs operations are professional and confidential, and the relevant courses are only fit to be taught in customs colleges.
Customs education resources are diversified. The college has joined the PICARD (Partnership in Customs Academic Research and Development) and INCU (International Customs University Union) and was honored with the WCO international customs certification. An extensive platform for international customs cooperation is established by polishing such international customs brands as Belt and Road Initiative and China-Africa Cooperation, and its information and resource sharing has the corresponding industrial characteristics.
Customs practice teaching has its superiority. The GACC has deployed H2010 customs clearance management system and electronic port management system in the college and established customs experimental center and several laboratories relating to commodity classification and anti-smuggling, and internship bases are set up in 14 directly subordinated customs.
Paramilitary management has its specialty. The paramilitary management mode of the college will help students to forge firm ideals and beliefs and distinct political position, and procures students to develop sound self-management habits.
International Vision
The college capitalizes on international customs resources to carry out postgraduate cultivation with an international vision, through the cooperation project with the Customs and Consumption Tax Research Center of Charles Sturt University in Australia, the joint lecture project with French customs experts, the master program on supply chain compliance with Erasmus University in Netherlands and the follow-up operations with the Dutch Customs.
Through international courses and exchange programs, our postgraduate students can not only learn advanced experience and concepts of tax management in the field of international customs, but also reveal the essence of our tax management model and operations, which will not only promote cultural exchanges between countries, but also expand the international vision of our graduate students, thus play a very important role in Cultivating high-caliber personnel who are familiar with and understand western customs duties and customs operations.
Employment
As of 2019, the college has enrolled more than 300 postgraduate students in seven years, with an employment rate reaching 100%, which exceeds the average employment rate of postgraduate students in Shanghai. Some graduates are employed by customs nationwide, provincial and municipal tax bureaus, market supervision bureaus or finance bureaus and other state organs; some choose to work in universities such as East China Normal University, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and other public institutions; some choose to pursue further studies in universities including Tongji University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Harbin University of Technology, etc. Some are hired by large state-owned enterprises such as state-owned banks while some choose to work for top 500 enterprises such as Deloitte, PwC and KPMG Enterprise Consulting Co., Ltd.
