No Plans to Merge UGC, AICTE Into a Single Regulator
- Mr. Mahendra Nath Pandey Minister of State (HRD) gave a clarification in this regard through a written statement in Rajya Sabha.
- As of now, the government does not want to merge AICTE and UGC into a single education regulator.
The idea of the HRD Ministry and centre to implement the single higher education regulator for All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and University Grants Commission (UGC) might take some time to come into effect. However, the government confirmed that it does not have any plans to replace UGC and AICTE with single education regulator, i.e., HEERA. Mr. Mahendra Nath Pandey Minister of State (HRD) gave a clarification in this regard through a written statement in Rajya Sabha. Actually, the government wanted to implement HEERA to regulate irrelevant regulatory provisions. As of now, the government does not want to merge AICTE and UGC into a single education regulator.
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Mr. Pandey further indicated that the idea of implementing a single education regulator was not new. Earlier, various proposals had been made in this regard including:
- National Knowledge Commission (2006)
- Committee on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education (2009)
- University Grants Commission review Committee (2014)
Various committees constituted by the governments in the past recommended the above-mentioned regulators to be implemented as a single education regulator. However, these proposals have not come into effect due to various reasons.
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Actually, the government wanted to frame guidelines for HEERA. The new guidelines will focus on setting minimum standards. If the single education regulator comes into effect, it will lead to better outcomes in the technical and non-technical education systems. The government might need some more time to implement HEERA.