FYI@Librarian: Government likely to drop single education regulator plan @ Hurdles in HEERA

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Government likely to drop single education regulator plan @ Hurdles in HEERA

Government likely to drop single education regulator plan @ Hurdles in HEERA

NEW DELHI: The Union government is preparing to drop its ambitious plan to set up a single higher education regulator to replace existing regulatory bodies like the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

The government will instead attempt a quick revamp of UGC, AICTE and the National Council of Technical Education as it goes into election year.

The single education regulator—tentatively christened Higher Education Evaluation and Regulation Authority (HEERA)—was so far being projected as one of the biggest reforms in the higher education space in the country. It also had the backing of Niti Aayog and the PMO.

The HRD ministry had even announced a 40-point action plan in April targeting a HEERA Bill in Parliament by September 2018. A draft HEERA bill was drawn up and was under active consideration until late May.

However, the plan has now been put on the back burner amid serious concerns raised on it at the conference on New Education Strategy for 2022 held in Mussorie last month, ET has learnt.

HURDLES IN HEERA

The Mussorie meeting which was chaired by HRD minister Prakash Javadekar saw concerns being raised about the feasibility of merging bodies like UGC and AICTE besides the challenges of establishing a full-fledged new regulatory structure, with a fresh legislation.

Considering that the Modi government is into the last year of its tenure, there are also apprehensions that a new legislation may not pass muster in Parliament in such a short time.

The AICTE had red flagged at the Mussorie meeting that they had already brought in several reform measures in their regulatory approach and their merger at this stage into a HEERA-like body was hardly justifiable. That a range of measures for reform in UGC were brought in following announcements in the 2017 budget was also pointed out.

WHAT NEXT?

The focus is on UGC laws and regulations like giving it penal powers to act against and close down deficient and rogue institutes and syncing laws to industry and employment realities and rationalising approach to private universities. There is a debate over taking the funding role completely out of UGC and handing it over to the ministry so that the former can focus on monitoring of quality standards at institutes.

Both UGC and AICTE have now been asked by the ministry to draw up a list of changes they need in their respective Acts and regulations in order to become more effective regulators. Both regulators are tasked with submitting the same within the month and meetings have already begun for the purpose.

WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS

The Modi government, however, is not the first to draw up plans for a single education regulator and then retreat. UPA II’s HRD minister Kapil Sibal had also tried to bring in a legislation for a similar National Council on Higher Education & Research but it ran into considerable political and legislative roadblocks. A HEERA, it was well understood, would require considerable political will to materialise. A fresh legislative agenda in the election year, however, is also challenging. The idea behind a single regulator is not new either.

Several committees including the Prof Yash Pal committee and the National Knowledge Commission of the UPA era and the Hari Gautam committee in the Modi regime have recommended a single education regulator to rid higher education of red tape and lethargy.