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The Education Ministry is drafting a bill to set up the Higher Education Commission of India as a single regulator, replacing UGC, AICTE, and NCTE under NEP 2020.
Majumdar said the move aligns with NEP 2020, which calls for a “light but tight” regulatory framework. (Image: X/@DrSukantaBJP)
The Ministry of Education is currently working on a new bill to set up the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), which is being planned as a single regulator for higher education in the country, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
Union Minister of State for Education, Sukanta Majumdar, shared this information in a written reply to a question raised in the House.
“The National Education Policy 2020 envisions a ‘light but tight’ regulatory framework to ensure integrity, transparency and resource efficiency of the educational system through audit and public disclosure while encouraging innovation and out-of-the-box ideas through autonomy, good governance and empowerment,” Majumdar said.
“The NEP 2020 further envisions setting up of a Higher Education Commission of India as an umbrella body with independent verticals to perform distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding and academic standard setting. Considering the above vision of NEP 2020, the ministry is in the process of drafting a HECI bill,” he added.
The proposed HECI, as outlined in the NEP, aims to replace three existing regulatory bodies – the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
Currently, the UGC is responsible for regulating non-technical higher education, the AICTE looks after technical education, and the NCTE oversees teacher education programmes.
The idea of setting up HECI has been discussed earlier as well. In 2018, a draft bill named the Higher Education Commission of India Bill was introduced. It proposed scrapping the UGC Act and establishing the HECI, and was released publicly for suggestions and feedback from stakeholders.
Efforts to implement HECI gained momentum once again under the leadership of Dharmendra Pradhan, who became the Union Education Minister in July 2021.
Highlighting the importance of a single higher education regulator, the NEP 2020 document states, “the regulatory system is in need of a complete overhaul in order to re-energise the higher education sector and enable it to thrive.”
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