UGC, AICTE likely to be abolished

Key regulatory agencies in higher education, including the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), will be shut down if the final recommendations of a high-powered committee are accepted by the government.

Instead, the committee, headed by former UGC chairman Yash Pal, has suggested that these bodies can be replaced with a single National Commission for Higher Education and Research, which will be empowered with statutory powers. In recent interactions, the heads of UGC and AICTE have opposed the closure of their institutions, asking instead for reforms to improve their functioning.

Set up at the initiative of prime minister Manmohan Singh, the committee also recommended the closure of the National Council for Teacher’s Education (NCTE) and the National Accreditation and Assessment council (NAAC). It is scheduled to meet on June 22 in Delhi to finalise its report and decide on a date for its submission to the government.

The committee said the proposed National Commission for Higher Education and Research should be headed by a chairman and include seven other members.    

Appointments to the commission will be made by a three-member panel comprising the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The committee has also recommended curtailing the powers of bodies like the Bar Council of India, the Medical Council of India, the Architecture Council and the Dental Education Council. It has recommended that the academic duties of these bodies be transferred to various universities.

Speaking to Dainik Bhaskar, flagship publication of one of DNA’s promoters, Prof Apoorvanand, an advisor to the Yash Pal committee, said that institutes like the Medical Council and the Bar Council can decide who should be a doctor or a lawyer but they should not deliberate on the curriculum of medical and legal colleges. These decisions, he said, should be taken by the universities. Prof Apoorvanand refused to talk about other aspects of the committee’s final report, saying the report was sensitive.