The Union Cabinet on Friday approved a bill to bring all major higher education regulators under a single body, replacing the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
The proposed legislation, earlier known as the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, has now been renamed the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill. The move is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP), which calls for sweeping reforms in the regulation of higher education.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE regulates teacher education. The new single regulator will take over these functions to ensure uniform regulation across the higher education sector.
The new body will have three key responsibilities—regulation, accreditation and setting of professional standards. It will not, however, have any role in funding. Financial autonomy will remain with the respective administrative ministries. The proposed regulator will also not oversee medical and law colleges, which will continue to be governed by separate statutory bodies.
Efforts to establish a unified higher education regulator gained momentum after Dharmendra Pradhan took charge as Union Education Minister in July 2021. The idea was first outlined in the National Education Policy 2020.
NEP 2020 had stressed the need for a complete overhaul of the regulatory system, stating that the existing framework was holding back the growth of higher education. It emphasised that regulation, accreditation, funding and academic standard-setting should be handled by distinct, independent and empowered bodies to allow institutions to function more effectively.
With the Cabinet approval, the government has taken a key step towards restructuring higher education governance in line with the NEP’s vision.
