The University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) submitted before a joint panel of Parliament on Thursday (March 12, 2026) that the newly-introduced Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025 was the “solution” to the current challenges of India’s higher education regulatory framework. They added that the bodies largely “agree and concur” with the provisions of the Bill, which was an “enhancement” of their functions as it stood today, The Hindu has learnt.
The VBSA Bill, introduced by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in December 2025, intends to replace the UGC, the AICTE, and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) with a 12-member umbrella Commission known as the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan, under which three separate councils — for regulation, accreditation, and standards-setting – will be operating.
The Bill was introduced to objections from Opposition parties, arguing that it represented “executive overreach”; subjected higher educational institutes to “pervasive executive control, graded autonomy, intrusive compliance requirements, severe penalties, and closure powers”; and went against the principles of federalism.
The government proposed that the Bill be sent to a Joint Committee of Parliament, which was constituted in February this year.
On Thursday (March 12, 2026), the Committee, headed by BJP MP D Purandeshwari, met for its second and third sittings, during which it held interactions with representatives of the UGC, AICTE, and NCTE.
In these sittings, the panel also interacted with representatives of the Council of Architecture.
A Bill that reimagines higher education regulation
Inclusion of Council of Architecture
The NCTE’s submissions to the Joint Committee of Parliament involved suggestions to specify sections and provisions of the proposed law that could allow higher education institutions to appeal the decisions of the Regulatory, Standards, or Accreditation Councils.
Meanwhile, the Council of Architecture, which has been given special accommodations in the Bill, described the legislation as a “great initiative” and went on to ask that a CoA representative be accommodated in the VBSA umbrella Commission and the Regulatory Council under it, sources said.
The CoA, however, has also suggested certain amendments to the Architects Act, 1972 and the Minimum Standards of Architectural Education Regulation (2025), to bring “synergy” between the VBSA Bill and the Architects Act.
The UGC told the joint panel that India’s higher education regulatory framework, on the whole, was “non-uniform and multi-window”, arguing that this affected “mutual recognition, quality, and transfer of credits”, adding that the current system does not encourage “holistic inter-disciplinary education”, which it argued affected innovation and entrepreneurship. It also said that the proposed Bill will help eliminate conflicts of interest and reduce compliance burden on higher education institutions, sources aware of developments said.
VBSA a ‘catalyst’
The sources added that the UGC also described the provisions of the VBSA Bill as a “catalyst” for growth, saying that it helped attain the goals of the National Education Policy, 2020, helped India to become a “global knowledge superpower”, and helped achieve the target of a 50% Gross Enrolment Ratio by 2035.
With regard to the portions of the Bill that specify the repeal of the Acts that established the UGC, AICTE, and the NCTE, and prescribe the mode of transition to the VBSA architecture, both the UGC and AICTE said that these provisions were clear and will allow for an “effective” transition.
The meetings of the joint panel on Thursday (March 12, 2026) were held in the presence of officials from both the Education and Law Ministries, according to the agenda for the meetings made public. Significantly, the UGC does not have a permanent appointment to the post of Chairperson, the position for which currently lies with the Higher Education Secretary, Vineet Joshi, on an additional charge.
In the first sitting of the committee on February 26, the government had briefed members on the contours of the higher education regulatory framework as proposed under the VBSA Bill, further noting that the introduction of this legislation flowed from recommendations made in the NEP 2020. The Education Ministry had told the joint panel that the NEP2020, itself, was prepared after one of the widest consultation processes, adding that the Bill itself was circulated amongst 39 Central Ministries and Departments for consultations.
When asked whether the VBSA Bill, 2025, was circulated amongst State governments, government officials said, “States have been consulted,” without clarifying which arms of States were consulted, when, or on how many occasions.
Published – March 13, 2026 05:03 am IST
