The Union Cabinet approved a bill to replace various higher education bodies with a single entity. This new higher education regulator will take the place of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
The UGC manages non-technical higher education, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE regulates teacher education.
Union Cabinet approve single regulator for Higher Education
The bill comes from the new National Education Policy (NEP). It called the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, but now known as the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill.
The new regulator will focus on three main roles: regulation, accreditation, and setting professional standards. It will not handle funding, which will remain with the administrative ministry. Additionally, this new body will not supervise medical and law colleges.
Accreditations will done by independent bodies
Efforts to establish the HECI began under Dharmendra Pradhan, who became the Union Education Minister in July 2021. The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) has already stressed the need for a single higher education regulator. According to NEP 2020, “The regulatory system is in need of a complete overhaul to re-energise the higher education sector and enable it to thrive.” The policy states that the new system ensure that regulation, accreditation, funding, and academic standard setting done by separate, independent, and empowered bodies.
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