Bill to set up single higher education regulator gets Cabinet approval

A bill to set up a higher education regulator which will replace bodies such as the UGC and AICTE was approved by the Union Cabinet on Friday, officials said.

The proposed legislation which was earlier christened the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill has now been named Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill.

The single higher education regulator which was proposed in the new National Education Policy (NEP), looks to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

"The bill to set up Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan has been approved by the Cabinet," an official said.

While the UGC oversees non-technical higher education, the AICTE oversees technical education and the NCTE is the regulatory body for teachers' education.

The Commission is proposed to be set up as a single higher education regulator, but medical and law colleges will not be brought under its ambit. It is proposed to have three major roles -- regulation, accreditation and setting professional standards.

Funding, which is seen as the fourth vertical, is not proposed to be under the regulator so far. The autonomy for funding is proposed to be with the administrative ministry.

The concept of HECI has been discussed before in the form of a draft bill. A draft Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Bill, 2018, which sought to repeal the UGC Act and provided for the setting up of the Higher Education Commission of India, was put in the public domain in 2018 for feedback and consultation with stakeholders.

Renewed efforts to make the HECI a reality were then initiated under Dharmendra Pradhan, who took over as the Union Education Minister in July 2021.

Underlining the relevance of a single higher education regulator, the NEP-2020 document says, "The regulatory system is in need of a complete overhaul in order to re-energise the higher education sector and enable it to thrive."  It adds that the new system should ensure the distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding and academic standard setting are performed by distinct, independent and empowered bodies.