diff --git a/edxval/__init__.py b/edxval/__init__.py
index 909de984..462c90dd 100644
--- a/edxval/__init__.py
+++ b/edxval/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
 """
 init
 """
+
+__version__ = '2.1.1'
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index db39c864..ad9d99d0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 
 import os
+import re
 import sys
 
 from setuptools import setup
@@ -47,7 +48,21 @@ def load_requirements(*requirements_paths):
     return list(requirements)
 
 
-VERSION = '2.1.1'
+def get_version(*file_paths):
+    """
+    Extract the version string from the file at the given relative path fragments.
+    """
+    filename = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), *file_paths)
+    with open(filename, encoding='utf-8') as opened_file:
+        version_file = opened_file.read()
+        version_match = re.search(r"^__version__ = ['\"]([^'\"]*)['\"]",
+                                  version_file, re.M)
+    if version_match:
+        return version_match.group(1)
+    raise RuntimeError('Unable to find version string.')
+
+
+VERSION = get_version("edxval", "__init__.py")
 
 if sys.argv[-1] == 'tag':
     print("Tagging the version on github:")