Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill

Syllabus: GS2/Governance

Context

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill.

About

• The bill proposes a unified regulator for higher education, replacing existing statutory bodies such as the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
  • UGC oversees non-technical higher education, the AICTE oversees technical education and the NCTE is the regulatory body for teachers’ education.

• It follows recommendations in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 for a single regulatory authority to streamline governance and oversight in India’s higher education sector.
• The new regulator will have three major roles: regulation, accreditation and setting professional standards. 
• It proposed four verticals of HECI: 

• The body will not have any role to play in funding. 
  • The autonomy for funding is proposed to be with the administrative ministry. 
• The new regulator body will not supervise medical and law colleges.
  • Medical and legal education will continue to be regulated by their respective councils, remaining outside HECI’s regulatory purview.

Significance

• The present bill represents a renewed effort to implement the NEP 2020 vision, incorporating a more comprehensive framework that includes technical and teacher education oversight under the new authority.
• Under NEP 2020, the concept of a single regulator was highlighted as part of a broader repositioning of higher education governance. 
• The policy recommended separating regulatory functions to reduce duplication and improve efficiency while maintaining accountability.

Source: IE