In one of the biggest move towards reforming higher education in India, the Modi government today announced a complete overhaul of the apex higher education regulator- University Grants Commission , repeal of the UGC Act , 1951 and a fresh legislation to set up the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI).Stopping short of setting up a single higher education regulator subsuming all regulatory bodies as was envisaged earlier, the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry has decided to revamp UGC and its parent legislation completely so that the HERC focusses on setting up academic standards and ensure their implementation rather than invest its energies on grant giving. The HECI will also be backed with penal powers to order closure of institutes that violate set norms, imposition of fines where necessary and provisions for imprisonment up to three years where necessary.The HECI Act, 2018 is expected to be piloted in Parliament in the upcoming monsoon session. Considering that the Modi government's term is coming to an end, it will be challenging to get parliamentary passage for a fresh legislation.The HECI will not subsume the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) as was originally envisaged as there were concerns red flagged over cadre merger and other technical issues. Both, the AICTE Act and the NCTE Act will be revised to fall in tune with the new HERC Act and reflect the same basic principle of focus on effective regulations for academic standards rather than administrative grant giving functions, sources told ET. The provisions of the new HECI Act, 2018 will override the Architects Act as far as academic standards are concernedThe key thrust areas of the HECI will be downsizing over governance of institutions, bring in disclosure based regulatory regime and powers of enforcement of regulations. A huge focus will be there on academic quality with emphasis on improving learning outcomes, evaluation of academic performance by institutions, mentoring of institutions, training of teachers, use of technology and so on. The HECI will also set standards for opening and closure of institutes, provide greater flexibility and autonomy to institutes and lays tankards for appointments to critical leadership positions at institutions across spectrums and even for those falling under state laws.An advisory council with the HRD minister, Higher Education Secretary and state higher education council heads besides experts will be set up under the HERC Act to advise on various issues every six months.The UGC and its regulatory regime have been criticised by a number of committees and their reports for its restrictive and suffocating processes. Several committees including the Prof Yash Pal committee and the National Knowledge Commission of the UPA era and the Hari Gautam committee in the Modi regime have recommended a single education regulator to rid higher education of red tape and lethargy.While plans for a single regulator were at an advanced stage, these were dropped after a May meeting chaired by the HRD minister in Mussorie.The meeting saw concerns being raised about the feasibility of merging bodies like UGC and AICTE besides the challenges of establishing a full-fledged new regulatory structure, with a fresh legislation.The AICTE had red flagged at the Mussorie meeting that they had already brought in several reform measures in their regulatory approach and their merger at this stage into a HEERA like body was hardly then justifiable. That a range of measures for reform in UGC were brought in following announcements in the 2017 budget was also pointed out. Building on these, it is being felt, may be easier than starting from scratch on a new regulator.Accordingly, while UGC will undergo a major overhaul, the legislation's governing AICTE and NCTE will be amended to bring in changes if necessary.