Opinion Higher education bill frees our universities

One of the major concerns is that it will lead to excessive centralisation. This appears ironic as the Bill’s primary objective is to accelerate autonomy in higher education institutions (HEIs) — it aims to create greater freedom in teaching, pedagogy, curriculum development, and the research and the innovation ecosystem.

The Union Education Minister has also said that the Bill will neither impede institutional autonomy nor affect funding. He also emphasised that states will retain the rights under their respective acts, including the authority to establish new universities and develop curricula.

The very name of the Bill communicates its purpose — propelling India towards its goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047. The name also situates the Bill in the decolonisation process of our education system. These two themes align with the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, which advocates a “light but tight” regulatory framework.

The Bill proposes minimal structural encumbrance and maximum governance by subsuming into one commission the UGC, which regulates the HEIs, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE, which regulates technical institutions), the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE, which regulates Teachers’ Education) and other such regulatory institutions in education, except those governing law and medical education. Various regulators have been established over time — starting with the UGC Act in 1956, followed by AICTE in 1987 and NCTE in 1993 — in a piecemeal manner as and when the need arose. The proposed unification through the paring down of HEI regulators was long overdue. That this Bill is being tabled nearly five years after the introduction of the NEP shows the maturity of the entire process.

The three councils of the proposed commission, the Viniyaman Parishad (Regulatory Council), the Gunvatta Parishad (Accreditation Council), and the Manak Parishad (Standards Council),

will have a clear mandate. This will remove ambiguities.

Through minimal regulation, the Bill aims to provide greater autonomy in a graded and time-bound manner to the HEIs, making them independent and self-governing. It envisages a facilitating role for the education regulator. The single technology-driven window operations will remove procedural ambiguities.

Departing from the traditional UGC evaluation framework, which is largely focused on input-based criteria such as infrastructure, faculty qualifications, and compliance with fixed standards, the Bill proposes an outcome-based evaluation. It shifts the focus to measurable learning outcomes, student skills, employability, and real-world impact. This approach emphasises what students actually achieve and apply, rather than what institutions provide, promoting greater excellence in higher education. The new commission will support high-performing Indian universities in setting. up campuses in other countries.

The Bill prioritises transparency by mandating online and offline public self-disclosure of all academic, operational, and financial matters. It ensures students have free access to a fair, transparent, and robust grievance redressal mechanism. Together, these measures build genuine trust and confidence in India’s higher education system. It envisions a higher education landscape where transparency and fairness are no longer just best practices, but the norm.

The writer is vice chancellor, University of Delhi