General Essay

Legislative Proposals in Higher Education

• Highlights
• The government has introduced four Bills related to higher education.
• In addition, it is planning to draft a Bill that proposes to have a single regulator for the higher education sector.
• In this note, we present an overview of the major challenges faced by the sector, the recommendations of the committees and the proposed regulatory structure. Please see our Legislative Briefs for a detailed discussion on the Bills.
• Presently, higher education is regulated by the University Grants
• Commission (UGC) and 14 professional councils such as the All India
• Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and the Medical Council of India (MCI). Two recent committees on higher education recommended structural changes.
• Statutory authorities such as UGC and AICTE shall set standards and regulate all higher educational institutions, including foreign educational institutions.
• The Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010 seeks to allow foreign institutions to set up campuses in India without an Indian partner subject to specific conditions such as maintenance of a corpus fund.
• The National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010 seeks to set up a mechanism to accredit all higher educational institutions. This would ensure that students have access to information about the quality of an educational institution and each course offered by them.
• The Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010 seeks to set up national and state level tribunals. Disputes related to higher educational institutions and students or the faculty and institutions and statutory authorities shall be adjudicated by these tribunals.
• The Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical Educational Institutions, Medical Educational Institutions and Universities Bill, 2010 seeks to penalise unfair practices of private educational institutions. Unfair practices include charging of capitation fees, not giving receipts for payments made, and publishing false or misleading advertisement.