The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been at the forefront of promoting inclusive and equitable quality education worldwide. One of its hallmark initiatives in this domain is the Open Education Management Information System (OpenEMIS) initiative, which aims to enhance the management, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of education systems across member states.
UNESCO’s OpenEMIS initiative is a collaborative effort designed to support the sustainable development of sector-wide national Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) that are tailored to fit national contexts. It emphasizes the importance of data management in education and endeavors to provide solutions that address the diverse needs of education systems worldwide (UNESCO, n.d.).
The OpenEMIS initiative hinges on three interlinked factors (UNESCO, n.d.):
- Cultivating an atmosphere that fosters the long-term growth of a national EMIS system in order to enhance the management, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of education systems.
- Identifying practical technological advancements and EMIS designs that are customizable to a country’s context to ensure accessibility of education data to all stakeholders across levels, from government to school.
- Establishing local ecosystems that can transfer the latest free, open-source software technology to government ownership, ensuring that no additional extreme costs are incurred by the government for software maintenance.
The OpenEMIS initiative offers a suite of modules designed to manage and analyze data related to educational activities (UNESCO, 2011). These modules include:
- Educational Institution Management Module
- Educational Institution Directory Module
- Data Aggregation and Analysis Module
- Export Module (including to GIS)
- User Rights Management Module
- Data Collection and Dissemination Policy Module
- Instant Messaging Module.
In April 2022, UNESCO launched a new version of OpenEMIS, showcasing its commitment to continually evolve the initiative to meet the changing needs of education systems globally. This new version is a “generic and open-source Education Management Information System (EMIS) software package issued without conditions or restrictions for use by countries” (UNESCO, 2023)
The main purpose of OpenEMIS is to collect, analyze, and report all data related to managing educational activities in a country. OpenEMIS was originally developed in response to requests from UNESCO member states for tools to aid in educational decision-making. It is designed to manage individual student data daily while educators contribute to developing this open-source system through use. UNESCO provides policy guidance and ensures compliance with international standards, making OpenEMIS a crucial tool for improving education management and delivery (OpenEMIS, n.d.).
The OpenEMIS initiative, consequently, reflects UNESCO’s broader objective of promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all and its commitment to leveraging technology to enhance the quality and inclusivity of education globally. By offering free, open-source EMIS software components and solutions, UNESCO is playing a pivotal role in advancing educational equity and data-driven decision-making in education systems worldwide.
Those interested in partnering or becoming a member of the OpenEMIS Initiative can reach out to UNESCO via email at openemis@unesco.org.
References
OpenEMIS (n.d.). “OpenEMIS: Better data. Better education.” Retrieved from https://www.openemis.org/
UNESCO. (n.d.). “OpenEMIS Intitiative.” Retrieved from https://www.unesco.org/en/education-management/openemis
UNESCO. (2011). “OpenEMIS: Open Education Management Information System.” Retrieved from
unesdoc.unesco.org/in/rest/annotationSVC/DownloadWatermarkedAttachment/
UNESCO. (2023). “OpenEMIS v.2 –UNESCO launches a new generic and open source Education Management Information System (EMIS).” Retrieved from https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/openemis-v2-unesco-launches-new-generic-and-open-source-education-management-information-system-emis.
Miriam Chickering and Glenda Niles
Authors
