HECI Bill 2025: Higher Education Commission of India to be tabled in Winter Session 2025

The Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill will be tabled in the upcoming winter session, which will lead to the formation of HECI. It aims to replace the existing higher regulatory authorities, including University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). 

The bill is expected to redefine the roles of several existing education councils, such as architecture, agriculture and others. The UGC regulates the universities in the country; while management and other technical institutes fall under AICTE and the teacher education institutions under NCTE. Unlike UGC, the HECI Bill won’t have powers to make grants, however under the National Education Policy 2020, it has pushed for a joint regulatory authority.

What is HECI Bill 2025?

A Higher Education Commission of India (Repeal of University Grants Commission Act) Bill was drafted in 2018, which aimed to repeal the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and set up the HECI as a primary holistic education body. 

The government set up three committees, one of which was tasked with reviewing professional councils that oversee training and education. Examples include the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT), Council of Architecture (COA), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Indian Nursing Council (INC), and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). However, the legal and medical fields, regulated by the Bar Council of India and the National Medical Commission (NMC), will not be under the new Higher Education Commission of India (HECI). In 2021, the government passed a law to create a separate regulatory authority, the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professionals (NCAHP), for allied and healthcare professions and education.