AISEC slams proposed HECI Bill, calls it blueprint for centralisation of higher education

By A Representative 

The All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) has strongly criticised the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill 2025, which the Union government is expected to table in the upcoming winter session of Parliament. In a statement issued by Prof. Tarun Kanti Naskar, General Secretary of AISEC, the organisation warned that the proposed legislation would severely compromise the autonomy of higher educational institutions across the country.

According to the statement, the Bill seeks to merge the functions of three key statutory bodies—the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)—into a single overarching commission. Unlike the UGC, which has the authority to disburse funds to higher education institutions (HEIs), the new body would be limited to regulation, accreditation and setting professional standards. This, AISEC argues, would turn the Commission into a “controlling authority” rather than an enabling one.

Prof. Naskar said the proposed structure of the Commission reveals deeper concerns. The Chairperson would be selected by a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary and comprising senior bureaucrats and government-appointed academics, making the body “fully bureaucratic” and subject to central government influence. While the Bill claims to promote institutional autonomy, it also seeks to monitor academic performance and authorises the closure of institutions deemed to fall short of minimum standards — provisions AISEC says directly undermine academic freedom.

The organisation warned that such powers could lead to widespread closure of institutions, mirroring what it described as the ongoing shutdown of schools in various states. It termed the Bill “a blueprint for centralisation and complete control over higher education”.

AISEC also pointed to several regulations already introduced by the UGC under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 — including the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), National Credit Framework and various qualification frameworks — which it said were adopted without adequate consultation with stakeholders. These measures, the statement noted, have faced stiff resistance from leading educationists, university bodies and academic councils.

In this backdrop, AISEC said the HECI Bill would give the Centre “unfettered powers” to enforce NEP 2020 and push what it described as an agenda of “privatisation, commercialisation, communalisation and centralisation” of higher education. Universities, autonomous colleges and affiliated institutions, it cautioned, would have no option but to comply with directives issued by an all-powerful Commission.

AISEC has urged the Government of India to withdraw the proposed Bill and called upon the academic community nationwide to unite in opposition.