On Monday, the government introduced a higher educationBill in the Lok Sabha. Aimed as the Centre’s next step to align with the National Education Policy 2020, the Bill is viewed as having potential to aid India’s competitiveness even as it raises concerns of centralisation, explains Anvitii Rai
What does the Bill propose?
The purpose of the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) Bill, 2025, is “to empower higher educational institutions (HEIs)” in the country “to achieve excellence through effective coordination and the determination of standards”, according to the government. To this end, the Bill proposes a restructuring of India’s higher education regulatory framework by dissolving the existing statutory bodies—the University Grants Commission, the All India Council for Technical Education, and the National Council for Teacher Education—and bringing institutions currently governed by them under a single apex regulator, the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA).
The Bill further provides for setting up three councils under the VBSA: the Viksit BharatShiksha Viniyaman Parishad (Regulatory Council), the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Gunvatta Parishad (Accreditation Council), and the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Manak Parishad (Standards Council). Each council will have a non-executive chairperson and 14 members, comprising “eminent academics, domain experts, and representatives from states and Union Territories, state HEIs, and institutions of national importance”, the government said.
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What benefits does it promise?
The Centre states that the Bill would “eliminate complexities by introducing a unified and streamlined regulatory architecture”, arguing that the current framework leads to duplication of control and over-regulation, with HEIs required to obtain approvals from multiple bodies and undergo repeated inspections. Under the proposed structure, the VBSA would provide strategic direction and ensure coordination among the councils. The Standards Council would specify academic benchmarks, the Regulatory Councilwould oversee compliance, and the Accreditation Council would function as an independent accrediting authority overseeing a “robust and credible” accreditation ecosystem. The Bill also proposes a public portal disclosing governance, financial, academic, and institutional performance data of HEIs to enhance transparency and accountability.
Criticism from Opposition
Opposition Members of Parliament raised sufficient objections for the Bill to be referred to a joint parliamentary committee, which will submit its report in the 2026 Budget Session. Among its prominent critics, Congress MP Manish Tewari warned that the legislation would lead to “excessive centralisation of higher education”, arguing that it goes “far beyond standards” and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses, thereby affecting institutional autonomy. Teachers’ unions have also opposed the Bill, pointing to the absence of grant-making powers within the proposed regulatory framework, which would leave funding decisions directly with the ministry of education. Sandhya Devesan of the Democratic Teachers’ Initiative said that the grant-disbursal function had “completely disappeared”, raising concerns that funding could be centralised and linked to ideological compliance. Additional criticism has centred on the Bill’s nomenclature, which some MPs argue is exclusionary in non-Hindi-speaking regions.
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What do experts think?
Experts have expressed cautious optimism. Sahil Gupta, partner, Deloitte India, told FE that the legislation ensures “clear functional separation” while maintaining “a harmonised academic benchmark across higher education, adding that it could promote holistic education and uphold academic quality to prepare a future-ready workforce. The Bill is also seen as an opportunity to position India more competitively among global peers. Anita Patankar, executive director, Symbiosis Dubai, said it could bring “much-needed clarity and consistency to quality standards which global partners value deeply”, potentially enhancing international collaboration, student mobility, and the global standing of Indian universities. Sanjay Gupta, vice chancellor at the World University of Design, noted that the Bill could reduce fragmentation and shift the system from compliance-driven controls to quality- and impact-focused oversight, benefitting design and creative institutions. But Patankar and Gupta caution that the Bill’s success would depend on safeguarding institutional autonomy and academic freedom to ensure innovation is not lost to over-standardisation.
How it compares with other nations
The proposed regulatory framework brings HEIs under greater central oversight, while aspiring to minimise regulation. The US follows a highly decentralised system, where private or state-run accreditation agencies—recognised by the Department of Education—determine institutional eligibility for federal student aid, with limited direct federal control. The proposed Indian model is closer to the UK’s framework, where each constituent nation has a single higher education regulator, supported by sector-led quality assurance mechanisms. China favours a strongly centralised, top-down approach where the Ministry of Education exercises direct oversight over higher education and training sectors. |
