Higher Education Commission of India Soon to Replace the University Grants Commission
About India, Bill Gates, the world’s richest man for several years, still its biggest philanthropist, and a keen India watcher in his own right, remarked: “Most trends are positive, but my biggest disappointment when it comes to India is the education system. It should be far better.” You don’t have to be Bill Gates to know that the Indian education system needs a root and branch reform, from nursery to PhD.
When it comes to higher education, the University Grants Commission (UGC), considered to be highly bureaucratised and largely ineffective, is seen as a hurdle to change. In an attempt to redress the situation at least partially, a new bill is expected to be introducing during the current Monsoon Session of the Parliament of India to replace the existing with the Higher Education Council of India. The draft of the bill is presently being finalised by the UGC before it is presented to the Parliament.
The UGC is the Indian government’s apex statutory body, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1956, to fund and govern higher education in India. Over the years, such as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE for technical, engineering, and management disciplines and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) for teacher training were also created to augment and supplement the role of the UGC.
These three separate entities are expected to be superseded by the Higher Education Council of India (HECI). This would result in the creation of a single regulatory authority for much of higher education. Some branches of higher education, such as medicine, controlled by the National Medical Commission, would remain outside its purview. The HECI draft bill was discussed in a three-day conference in July 2022. Suggestions and feedback were also sought online from various stakeholders.
The HECI was proposed in the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. In fact, plans to replace the UGC with HECI go back to 2018, when the then Human Resource Development (MHRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar had tweeted on 7th June about such a possibility: “Under the leadership of PM @narendramodi has embarked on a process of reforms of the regulatory agencies for better administration of the HE sector. In a landmark decision, a draft Act for repeal of #UGC & setting up #HECI (Higher Education Commission of India) has been prepared.” The earlier draft of HECI was already posted on the UGC website soon thereafter.
The HECI is to have four verticals: the National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for both technical and non-technical institutions; the National Accreditation Council (NAC) as the primary accreditor of higher education institutions; the Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC), which like the present UGC, with disburse grants and funds; and, lastly, a General Education Council (GEC), like the present NCTE, to design and monitor learning outcomes.
Having looked at the older draft as well as its modification, I for one, welcome it. As it stands, one of the main aims of the HECI is to accord “more autonomy to higher educational institutes to promote excellence and facilitate holistic growth of the education system.” This sounds like a noble endeavour, one that few would care to oppose. But the real merit of the proposed HECI, in my view, is that it would separate grant-giving, which had become the UGC’s principal function, from regulatory responsibility. In addition, the HECI would be committed to encourage and enforce quality, not just equity.
Actually, in this instance too, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. There is a real fear in many quarters that the HECI would end up becoming a lame duck or, worse, be sabotaged by vested interests. How to prevent such an eventuality is a challenge that the mandarins of the Modi government must anticipate and prevent. How to do this? If I were to sum it up in one word it would be to depoliticize higher education. By “politics” I don’t mean the aspiration to improve society or participate in student government. Nor do I mean the capacity to resist injustice or tyranny, which well-intentioned and well-informed youth in democratic polity ought to do.
On the one hand, the real problem is to the danger that caste, community, and other forms of entitlement politics in higher education might continue at the cost of real competence or merit. On the other hand, in certain politically over-correct circles, “wokeism,” which blocks both creativity and critical thinking, might also take its toll.
Many of our campuses are infected with both these ailments.
Obviously, this must end. Indian universities should be much more than breeding grounds for political activists or parasites. They must produce also real research and equip their graduates, especially Doctoral students, to become excellent and inspiring teachers. Likewise, an undergraduate college should not just be for “time pass,” keeping unemployed young people off the streets but, eventually, burdened with useless degrees, with outdated and irrelevant curricula. Re-energising and re-intellectualizing higher education is the crying need of the hour. We must improve standards so that India can be competitive in a global marketplace, rather than just exporting out best (wo)manpower. I do hope that the HECI works to ensure this.
It is equally important to de-recognize, even close down a number of colleges and universities, which repeatedly fail meet benchmarks, and to stop sanctioning new ones just because some politician, well-connected person, or special interest group is promoting them. Certainly, it is time to stop funding such swindles with public or government funds, in addition to giving them subsidized land and other exemptions. Serious and genuine rethinking is also required to rethink more touchy and sensitive topics such as reservations and minority institutions. Again, the watchword is quality not just populism. Certainly, we must support, even promote, the socially and economically disadvantaged. Even offer such sections of society extra points or incentives. But no compromise of quality and competence in favour of appeasement, compensation, or entitlement must be tolerated.
Similarly, the methodology to permit, regulate, and evaluate private, including foreign universities, to set up shop in India should be both enforceable and transparent. We must ensure that gullible or vulnerable students or their parents are not misled or exploited. Finally, top Indian institutions should be encouraged to open branches abroad so that brand India flourishes in the highly competitive higher education market too. To sum up, it is hoped that the HECI will incorporate these and other reforms. If it does, it will be a real game changer for Indian higher education.