UGC, AICTE and NCTE to Merge Into a Single Higher Education Regulator

New Delhi: On December 13, 2025, the Union Cabinet approved a bill that will completely change the structure of higher education. Now there will be no three separate regulators in the country. The University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) will be gone forever. They will be replaced by a single powerful and modern institution—the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI).

New name and new law

This major change will be implemented through the Developed India Education Monitoring Bill. This is the most important step of the National Education Policy 2020. A similar bill was introduced in 2018 but was stalled due to opposition from the states. Now the Center has removed all the concerns and got it passed.

Four different parts of HECI

HECI is divided into four independent units so that all the power is not in one hand and transparency is maintained.

These four parts are

• National Higher Education Regulatory Council
• National Accreditation Council
• General Education Council
• Higher Education Grants Council

There will be a clear division of responsibilities between them—regulation, quality checking, standard setting, and funding will remain separate.

What will be the benefit to students and colleges

There will no longer be a delay of years in starting new courses and new colleges. All approvals will be received from one place. Uniform and modern rules will apply to all institutions. Colleges will get a lot of freedom in the way of teaching, syllabus, and research. Paperwork and corruption will automatically reduce.

What will remain outside

Medical and law studies will still remain outside the scope of HECI. They will continue to have their own separate regulators.

The way forward

Now this bill will be presented in Parliament. Once passed, the decades-old problems in India's higher education system will end forever. The country will take a huge step forward towards becoming a developed India by 2047.