New Delhi: The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, one of the most ambitious legislations in the education sector that the Modi government plans to introduce in Parliament this week, proposes setting up an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions (HEI) in India.
The commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs. So far, IITs and IIMs were not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Besides, the law will apply to all universities and colleges, including institutions of open and distance learning, online education, and digital education.
Currently, the UGC regulates non-technical higher-education institutions, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) oversees technical education, and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) regulates teacher education. The bill proposes to repeal these three agencies. ThePrint has reviewed the contents of the proposed law.
The proposed legislation, however, will not apply to medical and legal education.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan or the higher education commission is in line with the National Education Policy, 2020, which considers 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 apex umbrella body will be responsible for coordination with the three councils, constituted for regulation, accreditation and ensuring standards in HEIs. Besides the chairperson, the commission will have 12 members, all appointed by the President of India.
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Councils and their role
The three councils—in keeping with the NDA government’s approach of giving Hindi names to policies—have been named the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Viniyaman Parishad (the regulatory council), the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Gunvatta Parishad (the accreditation council) and the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Manak Parishad (the standards council).
While the regulatory council will function as the common regulator for higher education in India, the accreditation council will be an accrediting body to supervise and oversee an independent ecosystem of accreditation. The standards council will take all such steps it thinks fit for the determination of academic standards in HEIs.
The regulatory council will have the power to impose hefty penalties on HEIs for violating provisions of the Act or the rules or regulations made under it. Penalties will begin from Rs 10 lakh and go up to Rs 75 lakh for repeated violations. Setting up an HEI without approval from the commission or state government will invite a penalty of Rs 2 crore.
The regulatory council will also have the power to authorise any accredited HEI, other than a university, to grant degrees in such a manner as may be specified by it.
Each of the three councils will be headed by the respective presidents, who shall be a professor with at least 10 years of experience. The president will be appointed for an initial period of three years, extendable up to five years.
The councils will have 14 members. Both the president and members of the council, except for ex-officio members and member-secretary, will also be appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a search-cum-selection committee of the central government. The President of India will have the power to remove the chairperson, president of different councils and its members in case of dereliction of duty.
Why an umbrella body
In its statement of objects and reasons, the bill mentions that currently the size, scale and complexities of the higher education sector in India have increased manifold with over 1,000 universities and more than 60,000 HEIs. More than four crore students are enrolled in these universities and HEIs.
“The expansion of the higher education system has also seen establishment of several statutory regulatory bodies, requiring multiple approvals by higher educational institutions, inspections, etc., resulting in over-regulation of the sector and duplication of control. There exists a strong need for providing simplified regulatory systems for higher educational institutions in the country,” mentions the statement of object and reasons.
It adds that an apex umbrella body like the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan will do away with the “non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols”.
“The bill will bring in the required regulatory reforms to usher in an era of autonomy of well performing higher educational institutions… the entire system of regulation will be executed through technology-driven single window interactive systems for higher educational institutions based upon public self-disclosure,” the bill states.
Academicians, domain experts and representatives from states, Union Territories, state higher educational institutions and institutions of national importance will be the members of the commission and the three councils.
The central government, however, will have the power to supersede the commission and councils if they are unable to discharge their duties.
The Centre will provide grants to the commission for its functioning.
“The commission shall have its own Fund to be called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Fund and all sums which may, from time to time, be granted to it by the Central Government and all the receipts of the Commission and the Councils (including any sum which any State Government or any other authority or person may deposit) shall be carried to the Fund and all payments by the Commission and Councils shall be made from there,” the bill proposes.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)