Foreign education providers Bill soon

The Centre would soon introduce in Parliament the much-awaited Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill which would help students get access to education provided by overseas universities.

"It is on the anvil. It has gone to the Law Ministry for vetting, after which it it will be introduced", Minister of State for Human Resource Development Dr D Purandeswari told reporters on the second day of the Editors' Conference today.

Through this Bill, institutions adhering to AICTE norms would be allowed to have tie-ups with foreign institutions to avoid "fly by night" operators, she said.

Urging state governments to increase their education spend, Purandeswari said the Government's target was to utilise upto six per cent of the GDP in the education sector.

"Currently, 3.78% of country's GDP is utilised for expenses in the education sector. Education is a cooperative responsibility of both the Government of India and states. We need to work together," she said.

She said as many as 14 Bills aimed at ushering in reforms in the education sector were pending as Opposition had stalled proceedings in Parliament (over Lok Pal Bill).

Purandeswari said the Right to Education Act would be enforced from 2013.

She said the HRD Ministry planned to come out with a "National Accreditation Bill" making it mandatory for all institutions to have quality infrastructure.

She said the time was ripe for India to have a relook at the education policy and to further strengthen programmes in the sector in the wake of globalisation.