PIM signs MOU with Sri Lanka Customs

PIM Director Dr. Senaka Kelum Gamage and Sri Lanka Customs Director General Major General (Retd) G.V. Ravipriya exchanging the finalised MOU 

Plans are afoot to enrol young Customs officers to the third batch of the Master of Business Administration degree program in Customs and International Trade (MBA-CIT) of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM). In fact, it’s another pioneering venture of the pioneer in postgraduate management education. 

For its initiation an MOU was entered into between the PIM and the Sri Lanka Customs (SLC) on 6 June at the Customs House. The two signatories were PIM Director Dr. Senaka Kelum Gamage and Sri Lanka Customs Director General Major General (Retd) G.V. Ravipriya. 

This program has been structured with the objective of enhancing the managerial and customs administration competencies of Customs officials, as this move is envisaged to uplift the overall administration of the SLC. Since this degree program is inked to the current promotion scheme of the SLC, the qualification will serve as a means towards the carrier development of the targeted officers. 

Further, this specialised program, while buttressing the already acquired skills and competencies, will serve as an entry-level qualification to further their academic studies in customs and international trade. It is, thus, a shot-in-the-arm towards their much desired career development.

The culmination of the program is the need to complete a project which involves identifying and analysing as well as developing a study-framework to resolve a Customs-related problem and providing a cost-benefit analysis including recommendations and a plan of action for implementation. Thus the program, in toto, is a fine blend of theory and practice of customs and allied subjects.

At the signing of the historic MOU some of the selected projects were showcased to the DGC by the officers of the previous batch, showing how effective and relevant the program is to the affairs of the Sri Lanka Customs.