Five years after the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 proposed its establishment, the government is set to table the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill 2025 in the upcoming Winter Session. This Bill aims to merge the regulatory roles of the UGC, AICTE, and NCTE into a single unified authority, marking the second attempt to establish a single higher education regulator in India.
The Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill is a direct outcome of NEP 2020, which recommended the replacement of the fragmented regulatory structure with a single overarching authority. Currently, India's higher education landscape is regulated by several statutory bodies: the University Grants Commission (UGC) oversees higher education, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) regulates technical and professional education, and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) governs teacher education.
NEP 2020 outlines four specialized bodies within HECI:
HECI itself will function as a compact body of eminent experts overseeing these four verticals.
NEP 2020 criticized the existing system for being "mechanistic and disempowering," highlighting concentrated powers, regulatory overlap, and conflicts of interest. The new commission aims to streamline governance, ensure accountability, and eliminate bureaucratic hurdles.
The Bill seeks to empower higher education institutions to operate as "independent self-governing institutions" while ensuring excellence through a transparent accreditation system and enhanced institutional autonomy.
The government's first attempt to replace the UGC occurred through the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, 2018. It proposed a new commission with a chairperson, vice-chairperson, and 12 members appointed by the Centre. However, since the Bill did not merge AICTE and NCTE, their chairpersons were included as members. The 2018 draft limited HECI's powers to setting academic standards and granting autonomy while leaving funding authority with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
Despite its intentions, the Bill drew criticism for potentially centralizing authority and creating excessive overregulation. Following strong pushback during public consultations, it was shelved for alignment with the NEP 2020 framework.
Critics express fears that the HECI framework concentrates too much authority with the Union government. The 2018 Bill shifted UGC's financial powers to the MHRD, raising concerns about universities losing autonomy and becoming dependent on central directives.
Opposition leaders also objected to the commission's composition, noting the lack of representation from disadvantaged groups—such as women, Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, minorities, and persons with disabilities—while industry stakeholders were prominently included.
Furthermore, the then CM of Tamil Nadu warned that centralized funding could lead to biased resource allocation, fearing that replacing UGC grants with ministry-controlled funding might shift to a 60:40 Centre-state share, thereby reducing states' financial autonomy.
A parliamentary standing committee flagged "excess centralization" concerns, noting that while multiple regulators create inconsistency, the proposed HECI model risks trapping state universities between national and state rules, with insufficient state representation in decision-making.
Overall, across political and academic circles, the prevailing worry is that HECI could weaken federalism, dilute institutional autonomy, and marginalize key stakeholders in higher education governance.
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