The Union Cabinet has approved the HECI Bill, now renamed Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill, paving the way for a single higher education regulator to replace the UGC, AICTE, and NCTE. The new body will handle regulation, accreditation, and standards as proposed under NEP 2020, marking a major overhaul of India’s higher education system.
Indian higher education is about to get its biggest structural makeover in decades. The Union Cabinet has cleared a landmark bill to set up a single higher education regulator that will replace the UGC, AICTE, and NCTE — bringing all non-medical and non-law higher education under one powerful umbrella.
The proposed law, earlier known as the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, has now been renamed the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill.
Approved on Friday, the bill fulfils a core National Education Policy (NEP 2020) vision: streamlining a sector currently governed by multiple regulators with overlapping functions.
Under the new system, the Commission will take over regulation, accreditation, and setting professional standards across higher education. Medical and law colleges remain outside its scope. Interestingly, funding — considered the fourth pillar — will not fall under the new regulator for now and will remain with the administrative ministry.
Unless the government creates a separate Higher Education Funding Authority later (as once proposed in NEP drafts), the current arrangement will continue wherein the education ministry’s Department of Higher Education will oversee funding.
For decades, India’s higher education ecosystem has been split across agencies:
- UGC regulates non-technical higher education
- AICTE oversees technical education
- NCTE manages teacher education
The NEP-2020 had called the regulatory system “in need of a complete overhaul”, stressing the need for distinct, empowered bodies handling distinct roles.
