Modi government announces repeal of UGC Act, new Higher Education Commission to be set up
In
one of the biggest move towards reforming higher education in India,
the Modi government today announced a complete overhaul of the apex
higher education regulator- University Grants Commission, repeal of the
UGC Act, 1951 and a fresh legislation to set up the Higher Education
Commission of India (HECI).
Stopping short of setting up a single higher education regulator
subsuming all regulatory bodies as was envisaged earlier, the Human
Resource Development (HRD) ministry has decided to
revamp UGC and its parent legislation completely so that the HERC
focusses on setting up academic standards and ensure their
implementation rather than invest its energies on grant giving. The HECI
will also be backed with penal powers to order closure of institutes
that violate set norms, imposition of fines where necessary and
provisions for imprisonment up to three years where necessary.
The
HECI Act, 2018 is expected to be piloted in Parliament in the upcoming
monsoon session. Considering that the Modi government's term is coming
to an end, it will be challenging to get parliamentary passage for a
fresh legislation.
The
HECI will not subsume the All India Council for Technical Education
(AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) as was
originally envisaged as there were concerns red flagged over cadre
merger and other technical issues. Both, the AICTE Act and
the NCTE Act will be revised to fall in tune with the new HERC Act and
reflect the same basic principle of focus on effective regulations for
academic standards rather than administrative grant giving functions,
sources told ET. The provisions of the new HECI Act, 2018 will override
the Architects Act as far as academic standards are concerned.
The
key thrust areas of the HECI will be downsizing over governance of
institutions, bring in disclosure based regulatory regime and powers of
enforcement of regulations. A huge focus will be there on academic
quality with emphasis on improving learning outcomes, evaluation of
academic performance by institutions, mentoring of institutions,
training of teachers, use of technology and so on. The HECI will also
set standards for opening and closure of institutes, provide greater
flexibility and autonomy
to institutes and lays tankards for appointments to critical leadership
positions at institutions across spectrums and even for those falling
under state laws.
An
advisory council with the HRD minister, Higher Education Secretary and
state higher education council heads besides experts will be set up
under the HERC Act to advise on various issues every six months.
The
UGC and its regulatory regime have been criticised by a number of
committees and their reports for its restrictive and suffocating
processes. Several committees including the Prof Yash Pal committee and
the National Knowledge Commission of the UPA era
and the Hari Gautam committee in the Modi regime have recommended a
single education regulator to rid higher education of red tape and
lethargy.
While
plans for a single regulator were at an advanced stage, these were
dropped after a May meeting chaired by the HRD minister in Mussorie.
The meeting saw concerns being raised about the feasibility of
merging bodies like UGC and AICTE besides the challenges of establishing
a full-fledged new regulatory structure, with a fresh legislation.
The
AICTE had red flagged at the Mussorie meeting that they had already
brought in several reform measures in their regulatory approach and
their merger at this stage into a HEERA like body was hardly then
justifiable. That a range of measures for reform in UGC were brought in
following announcements in the 2017 budget was also pointed out.
Building on these, it is being felt, may be easier than starting from
scratch on a new regulator.
Accordingly, while UGC will undergo a major overhaul, the legislation's governing AICTE and NCTE will be amended to bring in changes if necessary.
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