Academy of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ASCCA)

The Academy of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ASCCA) is an accredited public higher education institution with a special status, established by a Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2012 and started operating in 2014. It serves a multiple purpose: (a) offering undergraduate and graduate academic programmes (Bachelor’s and Master’s) in fields such as Economics, Law, Information Security, International Trade & Logistics, Customs Administration, and International Economic Law, and (b) acting as the national training institute for customs personnel — providing pre-service and in-service training, customs capacity building, internships, lifelong learning and other executive and retraining programmes. 

ASCCA also houses key international customs-education entities: the World Customs Organization (WCO) Regional Training Centre (RTC) in Baku, and the Baku Regional Office of the International Network of Customs Universities (INCU).  Recent Excellence Award – April 2025 In April 2025, ASCCA was awarded the European Training Foundation (ETF) Commitment to Vocational Excellence Certificate in recognition of its participation in the ETF’s “IntVE” (Internationalizing Vocational Excellence) project. Key elements of this achievement: 

• ASCCA applied the ETF’s International Self-Assessment Tool for Centres of Vocational Excellence (ISATCOVE) to assess its institutional status and potential for vocational excellence. 
• Based on the assessment, ASCCA developed a CoVE (Centre of Vocational Excellence) Development Plan, mapping strategic objectives, actions and monitoring mechanisms aligned with European quality frameworks. 
• The Development Plan was formally endorsed by the institution’s leadership, demonstrating institutional commitment to excellence in vocational and higher education contexts. 
• This award underscores ASCCA’s alignment with European vocational-education best practices, its openness to cooperation and its institutional aspiration to evolve as a Centre of Vocational Excellence in the customs, trade-logistics and information-security domains.   

This recognition by the ETF reinforces ASCCA’s position not only as an academic institution but also as a specialised centre of vocational training and professional development for customs officials and allied professionals. Through the IntVE project, the Academy is embedding continuous improvement, self-assessment and strategic planning practices — strengthening linkages between higher education, vocational education & training (VET) and customs service needs. Going forward, the endorsement of the CoVE Development Plan positions ASCCA to: 

• Expand partnerships across Europe and beyond in VET/HE linkages and research collaborations 
• Enhance its lifelong learning and executive-training portfolio for customs practitioners 
• Leverage its unique role (as both university and national customs training centre) to pioneer models of integrated customs-trade-supply chain-logistics-security education aligned with international standards.

Website: http://ascca.gov.az/en/pages/about

Contact: international@ascca.edu.az