Adequate but considerate regulation is the backbone of any system to survive and grow. This is more pertinent for a knowledge sector like education where the regulator must be appreciative too. Education in India has been subject to multiple regulations being a subject under Concurrent List of the Constitution; this means that the sector is regulated both by central as well as state government. The higher education sector has been adversely affected as both regulations run sometimes parallel. For example, for a technical education which is affiliated to a university, one must take permission from the university, state government as well as central government regulatory authority. This sometimes delays the decision-making processes. Further, many of the associated areas like funding, accreditation are all under different domains. That also sometimes delays the smooth flow in the system.

Major Regulatory Reforms:

In the above context, the Committee felt the need to restructure the regulatory system for higher education and make it simpler as well as supportive. The major recommendations in this regard include the following:

a.    Formation of An Umbrella Body: The Committee suggested formation of a mega-body at the apex level to be known as “Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)”.

b.    Creation of Four Verticals: The Committee recommended formation of “four verticals” under the HECI to take care of four important aspects of functioning of HEIs. These are:

1.    National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC): This will take care of all aspects of regulation. This will be for all segments of higher education excluding medical and legal education. This body will ensure that HEIs are operating within the rules and have appropriate infrastructure, both physical as well as academic, proper learning outcomes and all systems & procedures are in place

2.    National Accreditation Council (NAC): This will be the meta-accrediting body for all types of higher education and work independently towards quality assurance to ensure that all institutions move towards best of quality standards and a high level of accreditation. This will be a coordinating and policy making body and may not be the actual accreditation agency on the ground.

3.    Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC): This will take care of all types of funding including scholarships for deserving students.

4.    General Education Council (GEC): This will frame the “learning outcomes” for all types of higher education programs and devise the “graduate attributes” for each program. This body will be responsible to set the “National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF)” and to identify the skills and competencies needed for the 21^st century.

All these four verticals will work independently but in close unison with each other to ensure that the HEIs are allowed to operate freely, move towards the required international quality benchmarks, and at the same time operate within the given rules and regulations.

The regulation will look at both the players operating in the system: “public” and “private” with the same lens meaning thereby rules will be equally applicable to both. One of the important tasks of regulation will also be to ensure that “commercialization of education” stops, and education becomes truly a not-for-profit activity. All surplus generated must be ploughed back in the system.

Moving Forward:

Dr A K Sen Gupta is the Founder and Convener, Higher Education Forum (HEF). He is former Director of SIES College of Management Studies (SIESCOMS), Navi Mumbai and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s S P Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai. He may be contacted at aksengupta51@gmail.com or 9821128103.