UGC, AICTE work together to adopt HECI; Panel set up to identify common areas of interest

NEW DELHI: University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) have decided to adopt a ‘cluster approach’ to work together as a single regulatory entity. The UGC and AICTE members will meet regularly to identify the common areas of interest, the UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said.

The committee has been set up to prepare a roadmap for UGC and AICTE to identify areas where the two regulators can work together. It is a step towards setting up of Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), a single regulator for higher education to replace multiple authorities including the UGC, AICTE.

The UGC chairman on Wednesday informed that the officials from UGC and AICTE met and discussed how both regulators can learn from each other's experiences and work together for taking India's higher education to the next level based on the vision laid out by the National Education Policy (NEP 2020).

Also read | India spends only 0.1% of GDP on early childhood education: Report

The officials got introduced to each other and got to know the functions of various bureaus and Cells in UGC and AICTE, respectively. Common areas of interest were also identified for implementation. From now on, such consultations are planned to be held regularly, he said.

The officials got introduced to each other and got know the functions of various bureaus and Cells in UGC and AICTE, respectively. Common areas of interest were also identified for implementation. From now on, such consultations are planned to be held regularly.

— Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar (@mamidala90) September 21, 2022

“A separate set of sub-committees, comprising officials of the two regulators, will work on those areas. The idea is to prepare the system to adapt to a situation where HECI will be the overarching body of higher education,” as per reports.

In July, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the proposed HECI will not discriminate against private and Deemed-to-be universities and that the UGC is actively working to make the HECI Bill into reality.

The ministry of education also appointed UGC Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar as the AICTE chairman temporarily after Anil D Sahasrabudhe was relieved of duties on September 1, 2022. Following this, Sahasrabudhe was appointed as the first National Education Technology Forum Chairman.