Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill 2025, Objectives, Provisions, Councils

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill 2025 (Earlier known as Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill) is a major reform step approved by the Union Cabinet to improve India’s higher education system. The Bill proposes a single and unified regulatory body to replace multiple existing regulators like the University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education and National Council for Teacher Education. It follows the National Education Policy 2020 vision to simplify governance, improve quality, and promote autonomy in higher education. The Bill aims to make universities more accountable, transparent and globally competitive while ensuring inclusive growth across regions and social groups.

Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill Objectives

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill seeks to create a simple, transparent and outcome-focused system to regulate and improve higher education in India.

• Establish a single national regulator for higher education
• Reduce regulatory overlap and duplication
• Improve quality, accreditation and academic standards
• Promote institutional autonomy and accountability
• Strengthen global competitiveness of Indian institutions

Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill Provisions

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill introduces structural, regulatory and academic provisions to transform governance of higher education through a unified framework.

• Unified Higher Education Regulator

• • • Creation of Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (HECI) as a statutory body
    • Replacement of UGC, AICTE and NCTE with a single authority
    • Covers universities, colleges and higher educational institutions
    • Excludes medical and law education from its scope

• Core Regulatory Functions

• • • Regulation to ensure compliance and governance norms
    • Accreditation to assess quality of institutions and programmes
    • Standards setting to define learning outcomes and benchmarks

• Vertical Councils under VBSA

• • • Viksit Bharat Shiksha Viniyaman Parishad for regulation
    • Viksit Bharat Shiksha Gunvatta Parishad for accreditation
    • Viksit Bharat Shiksha Manak Parishad for academic standards

• Autonomy and Accountability Measures

• • • Graded autonomy for accredited institutions
    • Mandatory public disclosure of finances, faculty and outcomes
    • Transparent grievance redressal for students

• Funding and Administrative Control

• • • VBSA will not control funding of institutions
    • Funding authority remains with the administrative ministry

• Scope and Coverage

• • • Applies to 1168 universities and university-level institutions
    • Covers 45473 colleges and 12002 standalone institutions
    • Includes open, distance, online and digital education

• Exempted Professional Programmes

• • Medical, dental, nursing and allied health courses excluded
  • Law, pharmacy and veterinary education remain outside scope
  • Existing councils continue to regulate these fields

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Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill Features

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill introduces key features to strengthen quality, equity and global standing of India’s higher education system.

• Replaces three major regulators with one unified authority
• Implements NEP 2020 recommendation for single regulation
• Ensures separation of regulation, accreditation and standards
• Covers more than 58000 higher education institutions nationwide
• Keeps medical and legal education under separate councils
• Focuses on outcome-based learning and quality assurance
• Supports autonomy through graded accreditation systems
• Strengthens transparency through mandatory public disclosures
• Encourages global ranking improvement, noting 318% growth in global visibility over a decade
• Promotes inclusion with rising enrolment of OBC, SC and ST students and a Gender Parity Index of 1.01

Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Structure

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill establishes a structured institutional framework to ensure clear division of roles and effective governance.

• Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan as the apex statutory body
• Commission headed by a Chairperson appointed by the President of India
• Up to twelve members including academic experts and officials
• Three independent councils under the Adhikshan
  • Regulatory Council
  • Accreditation Council
  • Standards Council
• Each council comprises up to 14 members
• Members include eminent academicians, experts and government nominees
• Members selected through a search-cum-selection process with fixed tenure
• Central Government oversight through policy direction
• Bodies function as public authorities with statutory accountability

Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill Specialised Councils

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill introduces three specialised councils under the apex Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan (VBSA) as given below:

1. Viksit Bharat Shiksha Viniyaman Parishad (Regulatory Council)

• Acts as the common regulator for higher education
• Ensures compliance with governance and disclosure norms
• Prevents commercialisation of education
• Facilitates graded autonomy and institutional expansion

2. Viksit Bharat Shiksha Gunvatta Parishad (Accreditation Council)

• Oversees outcome-based accreditation frameworks
• Builds an independent and technology-driven accreditation ecosystem
• Ensures transparency in quality assessment
• Promotes continuous quality improvement

3. Viksit Bharat Shiksha Manak Parishad (Standards Council)

• Sets national academic and curricular standards
• Defines learning outcomes and qualification frameworks
• Facilitates credit transfer and student mobility
• Encourages innovation while maintaining minimum standards

Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Funding

Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan funding will come from Parliament approved central grants to run the Commission, Councils, staff, secretariats, and regulatory functions nationwide efficiently.

• The Central Government will provide grants to VBSA after Parliamentary approval under Clause 38, ensuring lawful and accountable public funding.
• A dedicated Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Fund is created to manage salaries, allowances, administration, and operational expenses.
• Budgetary support will not exceed existing funding levels of UGC, AICTE, and NCTE, ensuring fiscal continuity and stability.
• All assets and staff of UGC, AICTE, and NCTE transfer to VBSA with unchanged pay, service conditions, and retirement benefits.
• Funding of centrally funded institutions remains outside VBSA, protecting institutional autonomy and separating regulation from grant disbursal

Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill Significance

The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhikshan Bill marks a structural shift in higher education governance by aligning regulation with quality, autonomy and global standards. 

• It simplifies regulatory processes, strengthens accountability and supports inclusive growth. 
• By separating regulation, accreditation and standards, it reduces institutional overlap and conflict. 
• Its emphasis on transparency, outcome-based education and institutional autonomy positions India’s higher education system to respond effectively to expanding enrolments, rising global competition and evolving knowledge needs, while safeguarding equity and academic integrity.