New National Education Policy on “Higher Education”

It proposes setting up the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA)

I. Regulations and Establishment of new higher educational institutions

• The Committee identified lack of access as a major reason behind low intake of
  higher education in the country
• It aims to increase GER to 50% by 2035 from the current level of about 25.8%
  The Committee noted that the current higher education system has multiple
  regulators with overlapping mandates
• Therefore, it proposes setting up the National Higher Education Regulatory
  Authority (NHERA)
• This implies that the role of all professional councils such as AICTE and the Bar
  Council of India would be limited to setting standards for professional practice
• The role of the University Grants Commission (UGC) will be limited to providing
  grants to higher educational institutions
• NAAC will function as the top level accreditor and will issue licenses to different
  accreditation institutions, who will assess higher educational institutions once every
  five to seven years
• All existing higher education institutions should be accredited by 2030
• Higher educational institutions can be allowed to be set up through a Higher
  Education Institution Charter from NHERA
• All such newly constituted higher educational institutions must receive
  accreditation as mandated by NHERA within five years of being established

II. Restructuring and National Research Foundation

• Higher education institutions will be restructured into three types:
  (i) research universities focusing equally on research and teaching;
  (ii) teaching universities focusing primarily on teaching; and
  (iii) colleges focusing only on teaching at undergraduate levels. All such institutions
  will gradually move towards full autonomy – academic, administrative, and financial
• Establishing a National Research Foundation, an autonomous body, for funding,
  mentoring and building the capacity for quality research in India
• The Foundation will consist of four major divisions: sciences, technology, social
  sciences, and arts and humanities, with the provision to add additional divisions

III. Liberal approach and Professional development of faculty

• Making undergraduate programs interdisciplinary by redesigning their curriculum
  to include: (a) a common core curriculum and (b) on or two area(s) of specialization
  Students will be required to choose an area of specialization as ‘major’, and an
  optional area as ‘minor’
• Four-year undergraduate programs in Liberal Arts will be introduced and multiple
  exit options with appropriate certification will be made available to students
• Development of a Continuous Professional Development program and introduction
  of a permanent employment (tenure) track system for faculty in all higher education
  institutions by 2030
• All higher education institutions must have complete autonomy on curricular,
  pedagogical and resource-related matters

IV. Education Governance

• Revisiting the existing system of governance in education, and bring in synergy and
  coordination among the different ministries, departments and agencies
• Creation of a National Education Commission or Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog, as an
  apex body for education, to be headed by the Prime Minister
• This body will be responsible for developing, implementing, evaluating, and revising
  the vision of education in the country on a continuous and sustained basis
• It will oversee the implementation and functioning of several bodies including the
  National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the proposed
  National Higher Education Regulatory Authority
• National Research Foundation:-The Ministry of Human Resources and Development must be renamed as the Ministryof Education in order to bring focus back on education

Pic courtesy : utube.com