UGC, AICTE, NCTE, PCI dissolved; regulation, funding, accreditation, academics separated under single national chairperson. Performance-linked funding, tech-led audits, and institutional maturity to become new metrics of success as multi-chairman era ends.
Dr Tanveer Ahmed
India’s higher education system is entering a decisive transformation. The Union Cabinet has approved the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, now renamed as the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill (VBSAB). This reform is not incremental—it is a systemic reset that fundamentally restructures how higher education is regulated, accredited, funded, and academically governed.
What Changes—In Simple Terms
Under VBSAB, multiple legacy regulatory bodies will be dissolved and consolidated.
Regulatory Bodies Being Dissolved:
- University Grants Commission (UGC)
- All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)
- National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)
- Pharmacy Council of India (PCI)
This marks the end of the multi-chairman regulatory era.
There will be:
- No UGC Chairman
- No AICTE Chairman
- No NCTE Chairman
- No PCI Chairman
Two Clear Exceptions:
- Medical Education will continue under the National Medical Commission (NMC)
- Legal Education will continue under the Bar Council of India (BCI)
All other higher education institutions and disciplines will come under one unified national framework.
The New Governance Architecture
At the apex level, VBSAB will be headed by one national Chairperson, supported by four independent councils, each with a clearly demarcated mandate.
- NHERC – National Higher Education Regulatory Council
Role:
- Institutional approvals and permissions
- Compliance oversight
- Entry, expansion, and closure of institutions
- NAC – National Accreditation Council
Role:
- Accreditation of institutions and programmes
- Quality grading and credibility benchmarks
- HEGC – Higher Education Grants Council
Role:
- Funding frameworks
- Eligibility norms
- Performance-linked grant models
- GEC – General Education Council
Role:
- Academic standards
- Learning outcomes
- Credit frameworks (including Academic Bank of Credits – ABC)
For the first time, regulation, accreditation, funding, and academics are institutionally separated.
This structural decoupling is a major governance reform.
A Major Shift in Accreditation
One of the most consequential changes lies in accreditation.
NAAC and NBA Reimagined
- NAAC will no longer exist as an independent body
- NBA will no longer exist as an independent body
Both will be absorbed within the National Accreditation Council (NAC).
There will be:
- No separate NAAC Chairman
- No separate NBA Chairman
Discipline-Specific Accreditation Continues
Within NAC, discipline-based verticals will operate for:
- Engineering
- Pharmacy
- Architecture
- Management & Business Schools
- Hotel Management and other professional programmes
For engineering and technical education:
- Alignment with the Washington Accord will continue
- Outcome-Based Education (OBE) remains central
- Programme-level, score-based accreditation will continue
The NBA logic survives, but within a unified accreditation ecosystem.
New Institutional Accreditation Model
Institutional accreditation will now follow a two-stage framework:
Step 1: Binary Accreditation
- Accredited
- Not Accredited
Step 2: Maturity-Based Graded Levels (MBGL)
- Level 1: Emerging
- Level 2: Developing
- Level 3: Established
- Level 4: Advanced
- Level 5: Global Readiness
This shifts the focus from compliance-heavy paperwork to institutional maturity and capability.
Technology-Driven Oversight: The Real Disruption
Perhaps the most transformative aspect of VBSAB is the digitisation of audits and accreditation.
- Level 1 accreditation will be fully digital
- No physical inspections
- No site visits
- Decisions based on data, dashboards, and verified disclosures
This will:
- Reduce subjectivity and discretion
- Increase transparency
- Make institutional data publicly visible
- Limit opacity and manual intervention
A New Funding Architecture
- HEGC will design funding rules, eligibility criteria, and performance metrics
- Funds will be released by the Ministry of Education, aligned with HEGC frameworks
This introduces a performance-linked, outcomes-oriented funding regime.
What This Means Going Forward
A steep learning curve lies ahead:
- For institutions
- For leadership and governance structures
- For faculty and administrators
Compliance alone will no longer suffice.
Capacity, data integrity, academic outcomes, and institutional credibility will define success.
VBSAB is not just a regulatory reform; it is a paradigm shift.
Institutions that adapt early will lead.
Those who resist change will struggle.
Indian higher education is moving from control to capability,
from inspection to information,
and from fragmentation to coherence.
The transition will be demanding, but the opportunity is historic.
The writer is a lecturer in Economics at the Government Degree College Pouni
dr************@********il.com