After facing flak from the academic community on its draft bill which sought to repeal the higher education authority UGC, the Central Government asserted that the proposed Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) would be an "independent" body and that rights of states would not be impunged. Amid concerns expressed by several members over replacing the University Grants Commission (UGC) with HECI, the Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar told the Lok Sabha today that it is not converting the regulator into "a bureaucratic organisation, but, it will remain independent".
The Higher Education Commission of India Bill, 2018, for which the HRD Ministry recently sought feedback from the stakeholders, seeks to repeal the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956 and establish a new commission to effectively attain standards and enhance quality of higher education.
The government had received around 10,000 suggestions regarding the draft from the general public.
As on July 15, according to junior education minister Dr Satya Pal Singh, the ministry had received 7529 suggestions/comments covering Members of Parliament, State Governments, academicians, teacher unions, Chambers of Commerce, students etc. on the draft bill. July 20 was the last date for submitting the feedback.
My reply on question relating to #HECI in Lok Sabha – There will be no change in SC/ST/OBC reservation policy at all. pic.twitter.com/jxkfsTAEdf
— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) July 23, 2018
The HRD Minister told the Parliament that, when the UGC was set up in 1956, there were 20 universities, 500 colleges and around 2 lakh students. "Now,there are over 900 universities, 40,000 colleges and more than 3.5 crore students".
Two commissions
After members raised concerns over the future of UGC, the minister said there would be two commissions -- one for providing grants and the other for carrying out regulatory functions.
"That is the whole idea," he said during the Question Hour.
According to the minister, the grant disbursal function to universities and colleges is now proposed to be located in an entity which works in a transparent, merit-based approach through an ICT (Information and Communication Technology) enabled platform.
He also said that rights of states would not be impunged with the creation of the new body, while adding that, there would not be any change at all in existing reservations for OBC, SC and others.
"The proposed Higher Education Commission of India will focus largely on promoting the quality of academic instruction, maintenance of academic standards and grant of autonomy of higher educational institutions," Mr Javadekar said.
The ministry is in the process of finalisation of the draft Higher Education Commission of India Bill, 2018 based on suggestions/ comments received from various stakeholders, he said.
The draft bill now proposes to enable the Commission to perform its role effectively in attaining standards and enhancing quality of higher education, he added.
Responding to concerns raised by members, Prakash Javadekar said the draft bill has been amended and that would go to the Cabinet for approval. Around 10,000 suggestions were received on the draft.
The decision to invest the power of awarding grants to an advisory council headed by the Union Minister for HRD was heavily criticised on the grounds that it would result in politicization.
Jio Institute selected under "greenfield institutions category"
Some members raised the issue of the yet-to-be-established Jio Institute being selected as a institution of eminence Prakash Javadekar said it was selected from 11 private proposals under the greenfield institutions category.
The Ministry of HRD granted the Institution of Eminence (IoE) status to Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) along with IIT Delhi and IISc Bangalore on July 9, 2018.
Along with these three public institutes, HRD also accorded IoE status three private institutes, Jio Institute (Reliance Foundation), Pune, Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences (BITS) Pilani, Rajasthan; and Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka.
To a query on why no state-run university found a place in the institution of eminence list, he expressed hope that public universities would be there in the next list.
"The intention is to have 20 world class institutions in the next 10 years," the minister said.
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