The funding for the University Grants Commission has been slashed by over 60% in the union budget 2023-24 which was announced on July 23.

As against a previous allocation of Rs. 6,409 crores, this year, a mere Rs. 2,500 crore has been set aside for UGC in the budget. Established in 1953, UGC is the primary regulator for higher education in India. It was formally inaugurated by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the then Minister of Education.

The funding for Central universities, however, have increased substantially with allocations rising by over Rs 4,000 crore with an allocation of Rs 15,928 crore made for the fiscal year 2024-25.

Experts believe that this indicates that the plan to set up Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) as envisaged in NEP 2020 is taking shape.

What is HECI

HECI is envisioned to promote transparency, quality and autonomy in higher education, which has been the long-standing demands of universities.

The HECI is envisioned to have four verticals. The National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) will be responsible for academic governance and regulations, the General Education Council (GEC) will be entrusted the task of setting educational standards, the Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) will take on funding responsibilities and the accreditation aspects will be dealt by the National Accreditation Council (NAC).

The idea to have HECI was first proposed via the introduction of the Draft Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) bill in 2018. HECI was floated as a regulatory body with the authority to order closure of educational institutions which did not function to a desired standard. However, the bill was not finalized to see the light of the day.

The same proposal was pulled up again in 2022 with the centre proposing to have a single body, across disciplines in higher education, to oversee accreditation, regulation and setting standards in alignment with the NEP 2020’s vision.