The Parliament is soon planning to table a bill to set up a single higher education regulator in the country. The Higher Education Commission of India Bill (HECI) bill was proposed in the new National Education Policy (NEP). The NEP advocated for a single higher education regulator stating that the regulatory system is in need of a complete overhaul in order to re-energise the higher education sector.
After its implementation, the bill is expected to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). While the UGC supervises non-technical higher education, the AICTE oversees technical education and the NCTE is the regulatory body for teachers' education.
The bill, however, will not include medical and law colleges under its ambit.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan noted that the bill will have three major roles which are regulation, accreditation and setting professional standards. The fourth vertical Funding will not come under the HECI bill and the autonomy for funding will stay with the administrative ministry.
News agency PTI quoted Mr Pradhan as saying, "We will bring the HECI bill in Parliament soon, however, even after that there will be standing committee scrutiny. We have started comprehensive work for everything. The bill will look after three major verticals.
The University Grants Commission takes care of the regulatory role. The commission has already started a lot of internal reforms at its level. Second is accreditation of colleges, and programmes which is undertaken by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). We had set up a committee under Dr Radhakrishnan for revamping the NAAC, it has also made recommendations. Third is setting professional standards about what will be taught and how it will be taught," he said.
The minister further added that funding will not go to the single-window regulator and the funding autonomy will stay with the administrative ministry such as the health ministry, agriculture or our ministry.
A draft Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Bill, 2018, which seeks to repeal the UGC Act and provides for setting up of the Higher Education Commission of India, was put in public domain in 2018 for feedback and consultation with stakeholders. After assuming power as the Education minister in 2021, union education minister undertook renewed efforts to implement the HECI bill.