Higher Education Commission of India Bill could be game-changer

While the winter session of the Parliament began on a stormy note amid Opposition’s protest over the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the government has lined a slew of bills, which it plans to introduce during the 15-day-long session.

The Higher Education Commission of India Bill-2025 is among the 10 legislations, which is to be introduced during the session. The proposed bill advocates a single regulator for higher education.

This single regulatory body will take over the roles of the University Grants Commission (UGC), All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

It will be an umbrella organisation, which will undertake all duties like regulating, giving accreditation, financing as well as formulating academic standards for higher education in the country.

The Bill had been envisioned in the National Education Policy-2020, which had called for a structured and coordinated system for higher education.

The government had informed the Parliament in the past that this new mechanism will ensure an efficient and updated governance model.

The proposed legislation’s genesis dates back to 2018. Since then, it has gone through multiple stages of drafting and review.

The UGC at present manages non-technical higher education, AICTE supervises technical education, while the NCTE regulates teacher education.

The idea behind bringing all these bodies under one overarching organisation is to provide a simple and transparent framework.

Once implemented, the Bill is expected to address challenges caused by separate regulatory systems and make processes more consistent for universities and colleges. The new structure aims to improve oversight, ensure accountability and support better standards in higher education.

According to the National Education Policy-2020, each vertical under the proposed commission will work as an independent entity having personnel of high expertise in the fields concerned. These selected persons will be of great integrity and commitment as well as well-proven public service record.

Moreover, the commission will be a compact and independent body, though its funding is likely to remain with the Centre.

The commission aims to reduce red tape and do away with the “heavy-handed” nature of the existing system, the National Education Policy had envisaged.

“The mechanistic and disempowering nature of the regulatory system has been rife with very basic problems such as heavy concentrations of power within a few bodies, conflicts of interest among these bodies and a resulting lack of accountability,” it had noted.

In this light, the Bill seeks to constitute a commission to help higher education institutions “become independent self-governing institutions” and to “promote excellence through a robust and transparent system of accreditation and autonomy”.

According to experts, once the proposed commission comes into existence, it could be beneficial for students, leading to easier admission process and inter-college transfers. With reduction in paper work, a lot of time will also be saved.

Students will also have access to better course choices, while teaching quality will also improve. In addition to this, funding options are also likely to improve in terms of more scholarships.