The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, aims to establish a unified higher education regulator by subsuming the functions of UGC, AICTE, and NCTE. It strips the new regulatory council of authority to disburse grants or regulate fees, focusing instead on standards and penalties. The legislation aligns with the National Education Policy 2020 to streamline oversight in the sector.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, is poised for introduction in the current parliamentary session. This proposed law seeks to create an overarching commission, the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan, which will oversee three specialized councils: the Regulatory Council, Standards Council, and Accreditation Council. These bodies will handle regulation, standard-setting, and accreditation for higher education institutions, effectively replacing the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act of 1956, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Act of 1987, and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Act of 1993.
Notably, the Regulatory Council will not possess powers to allocate grants to institutions or control fees, diverging from the previous frameworks. The UGC previously disbursed funds to central universities and could influence fee structures through regulations, while AICTE managed grants for technical institutions. Under the new bill, funding for centrally funded higher educational institutes falls outside the councils' purview and will be managed separately by the Ministry of Education, as per the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's vision to separate funding from regulatory functions.
The bill empowers the Regulatory Council to enforce compliance through penalties, starting from a minimum of Rs 10 lakh up to Rs 2 crore for violations, with the steepest fines for unauthorized establishment of institutions. It promotes a policy against commercialization in higher education and mandates public disclosure of institutional details online.
The commission will be led by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, supported by up to 12 members including council presidents and experts. Each council will have a president with at least 10 years of professorial experience and up to 14 members, incorporating state representatives on rotation.
In cases of policy disputes, the central government's decision prevails, and it can supersede the bodies for up to six months with presidential approval. The legislation excludes medical, legal, and similar professional programs but integrates architecture education oversight. Its objectives highlight reducing over-regulation through a technology-driven, single-window system based on self-disclosure, fostering a 'light but tight' framework as outlined in NEP 2020.
