Government Plans To Replace UGC and AICTE With HEERA

The government has on its cards, a proposal to do away with two major education regulatory authorities University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Who will regulate the varsities if UGC and AICTE are scrapped?

UGC and AICTE will be replaced with a common regulator called Higher Education Empowerment Regulation Agency (HEERA).

According to a senior official, the reform will "eliminate all overlaps in the jurisdiction and also do away with regulatory provisions that may no longer be relevant." A committee comprising Niti Aayog's Amitabh Kant and higher education secretary KK Sharma among a committee are working on a detailed blueprint for the same, it is learnt.

What do the officials opine?

The new regulation is claimed to be "short and clean" and will focus on outcomes by defining the minimum standards. Some officials had commented that separating technical and non-technical education is "outmoded and out of sync" with the rest of the world and that a single regulator would result in better outcomes.

Objective of HEERA

The idea of replacing multiple regulatory authorities with one has been circulating since the era of the UPA National Knowledge Commission, ET reported, but has not come to form till date. HEERA aims to take strong action when needed and end the UGC's "inspector raj and harassment".