The government, through the Ministry of Education, has proposed that the primary school data system National Education Management System (Nemis) be implemented in universities across the country.
Nemis is currently being used in both primary and secondary schools across the country. Higher Education Management System (Hemis), a proposed sister version intended for usage in tertiary institutions, is currently being reviewed.
Adoption of Hemis was a topic that was discussed during the inaugural international annual conference that took place at the Cooperative University on September 23. Stakeholders met at this conference to discuss better approaches to improve university data management.
A senior lecturer at The Co-operative University of Kenya, Dr. Shem Mbandu, argues that the proposed system (the Higher Education System in the university) promises to address challenges stemming from inconsistent data sets held in a desperate database across multiple data agencies.
Some of the challenges it seeks to address include the absence of a single point of truth by a student undertaking higher education, inadequate consolidated data, and replicated reporting to various agencies.
Some of the agencies that would gain from this system include the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the Universities Funding Board (UFB), and the Commission for University Education (CUE).
“Hemis proposes a single source of truth for all stakeholders through integration with all agencies through secure communication protocols, student tracking systems, and staff data in the public, private universities, and TVET institutions.
“Information sharing and data principles will support decision making, strategy formulation, and planning,” the Ministry of Education stated.
To provide a foundation for effective school management, primary and secondary schools employ Nemis, a web-based data management system that collects data from educational institutions, processes it, and reports on the status of designed indicators.
Nemis’ goal is to assist streamline data management for informed decision-making and planning in the education sector by holding student/pupil data linked to a Unique Identifier produced randomly using a verifiable algorithm.
The information collected by NEMIS is utilized for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to the disbursement of government fee capitation.
“With its upgraded server infrastructure and improved system architecture, the system serves to strengthen the user experience of our users,” CSMagoha stated.
“Through these processes, the Ministry and its stakeholders will be able to effectively access and monitor indicators to aid in their mandate and in their decision-making processes,” he added.
