Education Ministry drafting bill to set up Higher Education Commission: Pradhan

The Ministry of Education is in the process of drafting a bill for establishment of the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. 

The information was shared by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the lower house. 

“The Ministry of Education has announced the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 on 29 July, 2020, after obtaining approval of Cabinet. The NEP envisions setting up of a Higher Education Commission of India as an umbrella body with four independent verticals to perform distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding, and academic standard setting,” he said in a written response to a question.  

“Accordingly, the ministry is in the process of drafting a Bill for establishment of the Higher Education Commission of India,” Pradhan added.  

The Higher Education Commission of India envisages replacing autonomous bodies like the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). 

The National Education Policy 2020 recommended setting up of the HECI as a single overarching umbrella body for higher education, excluding medical and legal education. The HECI will have four independent verticals -- National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC ) for standard setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding, and National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation. The HECI will function through faceless intervention through technology and will have powers to penalise higher education institutions not conforming to norms and standards. Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards. 

Read more:

• No plan to rename IIT Madras as IIT Chennai: Dharmendra Pradhan
• 39 top posts lying vacant at IITs, NITs: Education Minister