Global Education

🇨🇭 Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio

🎓 global-education-mcp

License: MIT Python 3.11+ MCP Data: UNESCO UIS Data: OECD Tests No API Key

MCP server for international education data – UNESCO UIS (4,000+ indicators across all member countries) and OECD Education at a Glance via SDMX. No API keys required.

🇩🇪 Deutsche Version

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Overview

global-education-mcp gives AI assistants like Claude a complete international education intelligence system – literacy rates, enrolment ratios, education expenditure, teacher salaries, gender parity and SDG-4 monitoring, all accessible through a single standardised MCP interface.

The server bridges two of the most authoritative sources for internationally comparable education statistics: UNESCO UIS (global coverage, 4,000+ indicators) and the OECD's annual Education at a Glance (38 OECD countries, SDMX REST API). Both are open and require no API key.

Anchor demo query: "Compare Switzerland's education expenditure as a percentage of GDP with Finland, Singapore and South Korea over the last 10 years – and flag any SDG-4 gaps."

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Features

• 🌍 UNESCO UIS – 4,000+ indicators, all UNESCO member countries, no API key
• 📊 OECD Education at a Glance – 38 OECD countries + partners via SDMX REST
• 🔍 Indicator search – browse and filter the full UNESCO indicator catalogue
• 🗺️ Multi-country comparison – benchmark any indicator across multiple countries
• 🏫 Country education profiles – 10 core indicators in one call
• 🎯 SDG-4 monitoring – structured reporting on Education for All targets
• 📈 OECD dataset search – discover and retrieve Education at a Glance dataflows
• 🔑 No API keys required – fully open data, zero setup friction
• ☁️ Dual transport – stdio for Claude Desktop, Streamable HTTP/SSE for cloud deployment
• 🛡️ Graceful degradation – API failures return helpful messages with local reference fallback

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Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• uv (recommended) or pip
• No API keys needed

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Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/malkreide/global-education-mcp.git
cd global-education-mcp

# Install
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Or with uvx (no permanent installation):

uvx global-education-mcp

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Quickstart

# Start the server (stdio mode for Claude Desktop)
global-education-mcp

Try it immediately in Claude Desktop:

"What is Switzerland's literacy rate compared to Finland and Singapore?" "Show me education expenditure as % of GDP for CHE, DEU and AUT over the last 10 years."

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Configuration

Claude Desktop Configuration

Windows (%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "global-education": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["global-education-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

macOS (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "global-education": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["global-education-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

A ready-to-use claude_desktop_config.json is included in the repository root.

Cloud Deployment (SSE for browser access)

For use via claude.ai in the browser (e.g. on managed workstations without local software).

⚠️ Security note: Since v0.3, MCP_HOST defaults to 127.0.0.1. The SSE transport must always run behind a reverse proxy that adds TLS, authentication, and rate-limiting. Never expose the raw port to the internet — MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 is only safe inside an isolated container network.

Docker (recommended):

The repository ships a hardened multi-stage Dockerfile and a docker-compose.yml that applies read_only: true, cap_drop: [ALL], security_opt: [no-new-privileges:true], and runs as non-root user uid 10001. The compose file binds the port to 127.0.0.1 so a host-level reverse proxy is required for any external access.

docker compose up --build
# then point nginx/caddy at 127.0.0.1:8000/sse with TLS + auth

Plain docker run (without compose):

docker build -t global-education-mcp .
docker run --rm \
  --read-only --cap-drop ALL --security-opt no-new-privileges \
  --tmpfs /tmp:size=16M,mode=1777 \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8000:8000 \
  global-education-mcp

Render.com:

1. Push/fork the repository to GitHub
2. On render.com: New Web Service → connect GitHub repo
3. Set environment variables in the Render dashboard:

   MCP_TRANSPORT=sse
   MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0      # Render needs 0.0.0.0; their edge layer provides TLS + auth.
   PORT=8000
   

4. In claude.ai under Settings → MCP Servers, add: https://your-app.onrender.com/sse

💡 "stdio for the developer laptop, sandboxed SSE container for the browser."

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Available Tools

UNESCO UIS Tools

Tool	Description
uis_list_indicators	Search and list available indicators (4,000+)
uis_list_countries	List countries and regions with ISO codes
uis_get_education_data	Retrieve data for a specific indicator
uis_compare_countries	Multi-country comparison for one indicator
uis_country_education_profile	Full education profile (10 core indicators)
uis_list_versions	List available database versions

OECD Tools

Tool	Description
oecd_list_education_datasets	List Education at a Glance datasets
oecd_get_education_indicator	Retrieve OECD education data via SDMX
oecd_search_datasets	Search OECD dataflows by keyword

Cross-Source Tools

Tool	Description
education_benchmark_countries	Benchmark multiple countries across 5 focus themes (UNESCO UIS)

Resources & Prompts

Resources:

• education://indicators/unesco – Quick reference for core UNESCO indicators
• education://datasets/oecd – Quick reference for OECD Education at a Glance dataflows

Prompts:

• bildungsvergleich_schweiz – Switzerland vs. Finland, Singapore, Japan
• sdg4_monitoring – SDG-4 report for CH/DE/AT

Country Codes

ISO 3166-1 Alpha-3 standard:

Code	Country	Code	Country
CHE	Switzerland	FIN	Finland
DEU	Germany	SGP	Singapore
AUT	Austria	KOR	South Korea
FRA	France	JPN	Japan
SWE	Sweden	USA	United States

Example Use Cases

Query	Tool
"What is Switzerland's literacy rate vs. Finland and Singapore?"	uis_compare_countries
"Education expenditure as % of GDP for CHE, DEU, AUT over 10 years"	uis_get_education_data
"Create a full education profile for South Korea"	uis_country_education_profile
"Which OECD datasets cover teacher salaries?"	oecd_search_datasets
"Compare secondary graduation rates across 5 European countries"	education_benchmark_countries
"Create an SDG-4 monitoring report for Switzerland"	sdg4_monitoring (prompt)

→ More use cases by audience →

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Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────────┐     ┌────────────────────┐
│   Claude / AI   │────▶│   Global Education MCP       │────▶│   UNESCO UIS API   │
│   (MCP Host)    │◀────│   (MCP Server)               │◀────│   uis.unesco.org   │
└─────────────────┘     │                              │     └────────────────────┘
                        │  10 Tools · 2 Resources      │
                        │   · 2 Prompts                │     ┌────────────────────┐
                        │  Stdio | SSE                 │────▶│   OECD SDMX API    │
                        │                              │◀────│   sdmx.oecd.org    │
                        │  server.py                   │     └────────────────────┘
                        │   + api_client.py            │
                        └──────────────────────────────┘

Infrastructure Components

Component	Metaphor	Function
HTTPClient	Postal service	Handles all outbound HTTP requests, retries and timeouts
SimpleCache	Whiteboard	In-memory TTL cache for repeated queries
GracefulFallback	Safety net	Returns local reference data when APIs are unavailable
SDMXParser	Translator	Converts OECD SDMX/XML responses to clean JSON

Caching Strategy

Data Source	Cache TTL	Rationale
UNESCO UIS indicators	3600s	Catalogue is stable; updated annually
UNESCO UIS country data	1800s	Figures update yearly, not intraday
OECD dataset list	3600s	Education at a Glance is an annual publication
OECD indicator data	1800s	Same annual update cycle
Country/region list	86400s	ISO codes and country lists are highly stable

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Project Structure

global-education-mcp/
├── src/global_education_mcp/       # Main package
│   ├── __init__.py                 # Package metadata, version
│   ├── server.py                   # FastMCP server, 10 tools, 2 resources, 2 prompts
│   └── api_client.py               # HTTP client, UNESCO UIS + OECD wrappers, formatters
├── scripts/
│   └── record_fixtures.py          # Records the fixtures from the live UIS API
├── tests/
│   ├── fixtures/                   # Recorded responses + PROVENANCE.md (source, date, SHA-256)
│   ├── fixture_data.py             # Fixture loader – raises on a missing name
│   ├── test_source_contract.py     # Contract vs. the recording + live tests
│   ├── test_server.py              # 42 tests (basic / intermediate / advanced)
│   └── test_extended_scenarios.py  # 74 tests across 8 categories
├── claude_desktop_config.json      # Ready-to-use Claude Desktop config
├── pyproject.toml                  # Build configuration (hatchling)
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md                 # Contribution guide (English)
├── CONTRIBUTING.de.md              # Contribution guide (German)
├── SECURITY.md                     # Security policy (English)
├── SECURITY.de.md                  # Security policy (German)
├── LICENSE
├── README.md                       # This file (English)
└── README.de.md                    # German version

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Known Limitations

• UNESCO UIS: Some indicators have sparse coverage for low-income countries or recent years
• OECD SDMX: Occasional API timeouts on large multi-country, multi-year requests; reduce the year range if needed
• OECD coverage: 38 OECD members + select partners – does not cover all UNESCO member states
• Historical depth: UNESCO UIS data availability varies by indicator; not all series go back to 1970
• Language: UNESCO UIS returns indicator labels in English only; OECD labels may vary by dataflow
• No real-time data: Both sources publish annually – figures reflect the latest published edition, not live school statistics
• Estimated values are labelled: UIS marks part of its observations UIS_EST (UIS estimate) or NAT_EST (national estimate) – for LR.AG15T99 that is 1,306 of 9,818 values. The status column names it; an unlabelled value is a reported one.
• Data rows carry the ISO code, not the country name: plain names come from uis_list_countries. The data tools print the code rather than inventing a name.
• An unknown country code is not an error status: UIS answers HTTP 200 with an empty result set and states the reason in the payload's hints field. The tools print that hint – otherwise a typo would look exactly like a country without data.

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Compliance & Data Classification (City of Zurich)

Verbindliche Klassifikation für den Einsatz im Schulamt der Stadt Zürich (German section follows in README.de.md).

ISDS Protection Class (Stadt Zürich Schutzbedarfsklassen)

Dimension	Class	Reasoning
Confidentiality	public	UNESCO UIS data licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; OECD EaG under public OECD Terms
Integrity	normal	Upstream is authoritative; local in-memory cache is TTL-bounded and never written to disk
Availability	normal	Graceful fallback to bundled static reference data when an API is unreachable
Overall protection class	G1 — public (öffentlich)	lowest tier per ISDS Stadt Zürich

• Data owner: UNESCO UIS / OECD (external)
• System owner: Schulamt der Stadt Zürich
• Processes personal data: no
• DSG / EDÖB relevance: none (only anonymized country-level aggregates)

Schulamt Classification (BUI / Vertraulich / Streng Vertraulich)

Aspect	Classification
Tool output (Markdown tables, summaries)	BUI (betrieblich unkritische Information)
In-memory TTL cache	BUI (same tier as source)
Structured logs (JSON on stderr, see OBS-003)	BUI — only tool name, params, duration; no PII
tools.lock.json, audits/ artefacts	BUI

→ The server is approved for any Schulamt use case without additional clearance from the data protection officer.

Compatibility

Component	Supported version
MCP Protocol	2024-11-05
MCP Python SDK	>=1.0.0,<2.0.0
Python	3.11, 3.12, 3.13
httpx	>=0.27.0,<1.0.0
pydantic	>=2.0.0,<3.0.0

Major-version upgrades are deliberate decisions — the upper bounds in pyproject.toml exist so a transitive bump does not silently break the server. See CHANGELOG.md for the upgrade trail.

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🛡️ Safety & Limits

Aspect	Details
Access	Read-only (readOnlyHint: true) — the server cannot modify, write or delete any data
Personal data	No personal data — UNESCO UIS and OECD EaG publish only aggregated, country-level statistics
Rate limits	Built-in per-query caps (max 50 indicators per search, max 10 countries per comparison, conservative year ranges)
Caching	In-memory TTL cache (1800–86400s) reduces upstream load and respects publisher capacity
Timeout	30 seconds per upstream API call, with graceful fallback to local reference data
Authentication	No API keys required — both UNESCO UIS and OECD SDMX are publicly accessible
Licenses	UNESCO UIS data under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; OECD data under OECD Terms and Conditions
Terms of Service	Subject to ToS of the respective sources: UNESCO UIS, OECD — please cite the source when redistributing
Attribution	All tool responses include source attribution (Source: UNESCO UIS / Source: OECD Education at a Glance)

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MCP Protocol Version

This server speaks two protocol eras over the same endpoint. The client's first request on a connection decides which one applies; a later claim from the other era is refused.

Era	Revision	Who reaches it
initialize handshake	2024-11-05 … 2025-11-25	What today's clients speak. The server answers with the revision asked for, or with the 2025-11-25 ceiling when the request asks for something newer.
Per-request envelope	2026-07-28	A request carrying the 2026-07-28 _meta envelope opens a modern connection.

Both revisions are pinned in tests/test_protocol_version.py and asserted against the installed SDK, so a Dependabot bump of mcp cannot move either one silently. This server builds no ASGI app to send an initialize through, so the gate asserts the SDK constants rather than a measured response — the weaker form, named rather than left unsaid.

Note that the SDK's LATEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION is an alias for the modern era, not for the handshake era — pinning against it alone would leave the era that current clients actually negotiate free to drift.

Update policy. When the gate fails, do not edit the constant blindly: read the spec changelog between the two revisions, verify the server still behaves, then move the constant, this section, README.de.md and CHANGELOG.md together.

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Testing

# Unit tests (no API key required, no network)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -v -m "not integration"

# Full suite including the live tests against api.uis.unesco.org
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -v

# Re-record the fixtures (writes tests/fixtures/ + PROVENANCE.md)
PYTHONPATH=src python scripts/record_fixtures.py

169 tests – 152 offline, 17 against the live source.

Category	Tests	Description
Edge cases & boundary values	19	Year limits, string lengths, null/zero values
Security & adversarial inputs	14	Injection attempts, HTTP error codes, whitespace
Output quality	11	Markdown structure, source attribution, sort order
Resilience & error cascades	9	Full API outage, partial results, timeouts
Subject-matter correctness	10	SDG-4 coverage, correct indicators per focus theme
Performance & concurrency	4	Concurrent requests, time limits
Schulamt scenarios	7	DACH comparison, PISA, teacher shortage
Source contract vs. the recording	23	Field names, envelope, query parameters, hints
Live tests (-m integration)	17	The paths, the shape, and the tools themselves

Why the fixtures are recorded rather than written

A hand-written mock encodes its author's assumption and therefore cannot refute it: production code and fixture come from the same head, the same hour, the same reading of the docs. Where both are wrong, both are wrong together — and the suite stays green.

That is not a hypothetical here. Before 2026-08-08 this repo had 128 green tests while three of its four UNESCO paths answered HTTP 404 and every data query returned an empty list. The mocks carried the same invented field names as the production code (observations, indicatorId, entityType), so nothing could ever contradict them.

Every fixture under tests/fixtures/ is now a recorded response. PROVENANCE.md names the source URL, the recording date, the selection rule and the SHA-256 for each one. Without a date, "recorded" becomes indistinguishable from "invented" after two years — the file looks the same.

Three of the fixtures are controls: a made-up theme value, a made-up country code, and the same time series requested twice with different parameter names. Without them a measurement only shows what we received; with them it shows what the source actually distinguishes.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

• Follow the existing code style (Ruff linting, Black formatting)
• Add tests for new tools (tests/test_server.py or test_extended_scenarios.py)
• Use the @pytest.mark.integration marker for tests that call live APIs
• Update CHANGELOG.md and the tool table in this README
• See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full contribution guide

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Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md

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Security

To report a vulnerability, see SECURITY.md (🇩🇪 Deutsche Version). Please use the private channels described there rather than public issues.

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License

MIT License — see LICENSE

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Author

Hayal Oezkan · github.com/malkreide

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Credits & Related Projects

• Data: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) – open education data for all UNESCO member states
• Data: OECD Education at a Glance – annual OECD education statistics via SDMX
• Protocol: Model Context Protocol – Anthropic / Linux Foundation
• Related: swiss-transport-mcp – MCP server for Swiss public transport
• Related: zurich-opendata-mcp – MCP server for Zurich city open data
• Portfolio: Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio

MCP Client Configuration

Run via uv's uvx — no clone or manual install needed. Add to your MCP client config (mcpServers for Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf; use a top-level servers key for VS Code in .vscode/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "global-education-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "global-education-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}