History of the MCA Programme

The MCA is a well-established course with an extensive network of teaching staff and over 130 alumni. The following charts its development.

Founding

The Master of Customs, Administration and International Trade Law was founded in December 2005 by the Department of Customs and Excise at Münster University in cooperation with the then German Society for Technical Cooperation (now “GIZ”). It was designed for customs officers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Participants from several African states attended Münster University for a whole year of full-time study before returning home to write their Master’s theses. The course ran successfully until 2011.

2014 relaunch

In 2014, the course was relaunched as the “Master of Customs, Taxation and International Trade Law”, for both the public and private sector. To improve the career-study balance the course was restructured for part-time students. With the advent of the Covid Pandemic in 2020, we delivered the course fully online with classes held on three Saturdays of each month.

Cooperation with the World Customs Organization (WCO)

The MCA course has profited immensely from its co-operation with the World Customs Organisation (WCO). Under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Hans-Michael Wolffgang, both the Department of Customs and Excise and its successor, the Institute of Customs and International Trade Law (ICTL), have contributed to related projects such as:

• The founding of the International Network of Customs Universities (http://incu.org/)
• The publication of the World Customs Journal (http://www.worldcustomsjournal.org/)
• The creation of the WCO PICARD Programme and
• The publication of the WCO PICARD Standards for institutions of further education offering customs-related courses (http://www.wcoomd.org/home_wco_topics_cboverviewboxes_programmes_cbpicardoverview.htm)

Each of these projects represents a milestone in the development of customs-related university education. 

Co-operation with AWA

The AWA Foreign Trade Academy is responsible for the organisation and financing of the MCA course. It offers seminars, inhouse-training, distance learning courses and webinars on a wide range of subjects relating to foreign trade. The range of seminars offered always pays regard to the current legal situation in foreign trade. Besides seminars relating to foreign trade, the AWA also organises congresses, special events and annual "updates" (e.g. on export controls and customs).