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Higher Education Commission of India Bill

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July 03, 2018

 

Why in news?

  • The draft Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill is now in the public domain.

What is the bill on?

  • It proposes to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC) with a Higher Education Commission of India.
  • This is to provide for more autonomy and facilitate holistic growth of this sector.
  • It is also to offer greater opportunities to Indian students at more affordable cost.
  • The new commission will cover all fields of education.
  • This is however except medical, agriculture and institutions set up under Central and State Acts.
  • The exemption does not cover institutes of national importance.

What are the provisions?

  • It proposes a clear separation between academic and grant-giving functions.
  • Academic functions would be discharged by the HECI.
  • The academic functions include
  1. promoting the quality of instruction
  2. maintenance of academic standards
  3. fostering the autonomy of higher education institutions
  • The HECI will be bestowed with comprehensive and overriding powers.
  • This includes ordering the closure of institutions, in all academic and related matters.
  • The grant-giving function will be by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) directly.

What is the need?

  • Multiple regulators - The regime of multiple regulators started in the mid-1980s.
  • Various professional bodies also started asserting themselves as regulators from early 1990s.
  • It marked a galloping growth of the education sector with the setting up of many private universities.
  • Multiple bodies in addition to the existing ones came in to cope with the increasing complexity.
  • E.g. UGC, All India Council for Technical Education, professional bodies like the Bar Council of India and Council of Architecture.
  • Quality - The heavy hands of multiple regulators have not yielded the desired dividends.
  • Uneven and deteriorating standards in the quality of student output was witnessed.
  • This was against the requirements of the job market.
  • It is in this context that the need for a single regulatory body arose.

 

Source: The Hindu

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