Abstract

The European Master in Official Statistics (EMOS) was launched in 2014 as a shared initiative by Eurostat and the European Statistical System (ESS). The objectives of EMOS are to include official statistics in statistical curricula of universities across Europe, and create a pool of highly skilled statisticians for recruitment in the ESS and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). EMOS is implemented as either an add on specialisation track on top of an underlying Master programme, or as a new curriculum entirely dedicated to official statistics. As of February 2023, the EMOS network included 34 Master programmes in 18 countries in Europe.
All nationally accredited Master programmes in EU Member States, EU candidate countries and EFTA countries can apply for the EMOS label. Master programmes awarded the EMOS label implement the EMOS learning outcomes in their curricula. The EMOS learning outcomes guarantee a solid foundation for those willing to pursue a career in the field of data collection, analysis, development, production and dissemination or other professional activities that require a strong command of statistical methods and processes.
The EMOS network is a key asset of the programme. Bringing together representatives of EMOS labelled Master programmes, organisations producing official statistics, and EMOS students and graduates, it provides a platform for Europe-wide exchanges between academia and practitioners. A number of EMOS activities are organised to support knowledge transfer: student internships, the Master thesis competition, EMOS webinar series, workshops, conference participation sponsorships, study visits, Coding Lab, and more.
On the one hand, this collaboration among universities and between universities and statistics producers has allowed EMOS students to gain a well-rounded education, with a deep understanding of national and European statistics and how they are produced, as well as access to a Europe-wide network of official statisticians. On the other, the knowledge transfer within the EMOS network has led to cross-fertilisation of ideas and has shown the potential of EMOS as a catalyst for innovation.
Almost 10 years after the initial launch of EMOS, a feasibility study on the future of the programme is ongoing, with the aim of investigating how it can be further developed to realise its full potential as the pan European, cross-border, high quality study programme in official statistics, and leveraged to support official statistics producers in Europe in reaping the benefits of the new data ecosystem.
In this presentation, Maja Islam, the EMOS project manager at Eurostat, will present the current state of-play, achievements and key challenges, as well as the latest findings of the EMOS study.