A Single Higher Education Regulatory Agency To Replace UGC And AICTE Soon

The Narendra Modi government is all set to scrap the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). They are going to be replaced with one higher education regulator, tentatively christened Higher Education Empowerment Regulation Agency (HEERA), reports the Economic Times.

This higher regulatory body will replace multiple regulatory bodies, with overlapping jurisdiction. The UGC regime is associated with the inspector raj and harassment, but the new body, HEERA is aimed at putting an end to that, and will also be empowered to take strong penal action when necessary.

Economic Times also reported that the new regulatory legislation is likely to be short and clean and will outline minimum standards focused on outcomes. Officials have told ET that the separation of technical and nontechnical education is outmoded and out of sync with global practices and that a single regulator will bring in greater synergy among institutions and in framing curricula.

Since bringing in new legislation and repealing AICTE and UGC Acts may be a time-consuming process, interim measures are likely, and amendments to these Acts and modification of UGC regulations are among options being considered.