The UNESCO Institute for Statistics

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) was established in July 1999 to meet the growing needs of UNESCO Member States and the international community for a wider range of policy-relevant, timely, and reliable statistics in the fields of education, science and technology, culture and communication.

The Institute's functional autonomy, together with the maintenance of high professional standards and intellectual independence, enables it to respond effectively to these needs.

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics is hosted by the University of Montreal in Canada.

What are the Institute's objectives?

The Institute aims to:

- gather a wide range of quality statistical information to help Member States analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of their programmes and to inform their policy decisions;

- interpret and report on the global situation with regard to education, science and technology, culture and communication.

What does the Institute do?

The Institute's activities involve:

- collecting up-to-date statistics from across the world according to agreed quality procedures and disseminating them to the users in a form appropriate to their needs;

- developing the conceptual and methodological framework for the collection of internationally comparable data and indicators;

- working with Member States to improve their capacities to collect and analyse data of relevance to their policy initiatives; and

- analysing data in partnership with policy makers and researchers, and promoting wider and more informed use of data for policy purposes.

The UIS is a crucial link in an international network of experts and institutions dealing with statistics within UNESCO's fields of competence.

Whom does the Institute serve?

While the UNESCO Member States (and especially their users and producers of statistics) are the prime beneficiaries of the work of the UIS, other users include international, intergovernmental, non-governmental and regional organizations, and research institutes, universities, and other relevant bodies.

The current work programme

The Institute's current programme includes:

- consulting the international community in order to determine the long-term data needs of Member States, regional and international organizations;

- carrying out fundamental reviews of work in the areas of science and technology, culture and communication in order to prepare a future strategy;

- conducting annual education surveys, in order to obtain a core set of quality education data, supported by training workshops held in all regions of the world;

- working with Member States to implement the ISCED97 (the revised International Standard Classification of Education) within their country;

- developing the programme on World Education Indicators (WEI) in co-ordination with the OECD as well as the programme for European Union candidate countries in cooperation with EUROSTAT;

- supporting statistical capacity-building within countries, including the Africa-wide Strengthening National Education Statistical Information Systems (NESIS) programme; and

- incorporating the EFA Observatory, the international monitoring body which examines progress towards the objectives of Education for All (EFA).

Governance

The Institute's Governing Board consists of twelve international statistical experts, representing different global regions and international organizations. The Board's primary tasks are to define the UIS policy together with its broad functions, as well as to approve the yearly programme and budget. The Board also ensures the monitoring, evaluation, and control of the Institute's operations.

UIS Resources

The Institute has considerable expertise in international, comparable statistics, and is able to host researchers who wish to work with the material on a long-term basis. Inquiries from potential users are most welcome.

Publications

The UIS publishes statistical data and analyses in the fields of education, science and technology, culture and communication. Publications include:

- statistical abstracts;
- research and analysis;
- methodological guides and international classifications.

These are available in print and/or CD-ROM formats and for consultation via the UIS web site.