Government to Introduce Regulator for Higher Education.

The government is likely to introduce the Bill to set up an overarching regulatory body for higher education — Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) — in the monsoon season of Parliament in July. The proposed commission will have powers to enforce academic quality standards and order the closure of sub-standard institutions.

The government is likely to introduce the Bill to set up an overarching regulatory body for higher education — Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) — in the monsoon season of Parliament in July. The proposed commission will have powers to enforce academic quality standards and order the closure of sub-standard institutions. Non-compliance could result in fines or jail sentences.
HECI is a key regulatory reform envisaged in the National Education Policy 2020 in which it was stated that “the regulatory system is in need of a complete overhaul in order to re-energise the higher education sector and enable it to thrive”.
The idea of an umbrella body of regulators actually preceded the NEP 2020, when in June 2018 the government uploaded a draft law titled, ‘Higher Education Commission of India Act, 2018 (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act)’.
As per the new education policy, regulation of higher education “has been rife with very basic problems, such as heavy concentrations of power within a few bodies, conflicts of interest among these bodies, and a resulting lack of accountability.”
As stated in the NEP 2020 and draft being readied at the ministry of education (MoE), HECI will have four verticals — National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) as a single point regulator for the higher education sector; meta-accrediting body called the National Accreditation Council (NAC); Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC), which will carry out funding and financing of higher education; and General Education Council (GEC), which will frame expected learning outcomes for higher education programmes.