New Delhi, 19 July 2018: The HRD Ministry has prepared a draft Higher Education Commission of India Bill, 2018 for repeal of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act and setting up Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) for promoting the quality of academic instruction, maintenance of academic standards and autonomy of higher educational institutions.

The Ministry has put the draft Higher Education Commission of India Bill, 2018 in public domain on 27 June 2018 for seeking comments and suggestions from educationists, stakeholders and general public before 20.07.2018.

As on 15 July 2018, 7,529 suggestions/comments covering Members of Parliament, State Governments, academicians, teacher unions, Chambers of Commerce, students etc. have been received and appropriate changes are being made in the draft Bill based on public feedback.

The grant disbursal function to Universities and Colleges is now proposed to be located in an entity which works in a transparent, merit-based approach through an ICT enabled platform.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh today in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.