UGC, AICTE likely to be abolished..is it the end of licence raj in education???

Yashpal committee report is out. Hope Kapil Sibal keeps his WORD of implementing it in 100 days starting TODAY 24th June 2009.Key regulatory agencies in higher education, including the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), will be shut down if the final recommendations of a high-powered committee are accepted by the government.

Instead, the committee, headed by former UGC chairman Yash Pal, has suggested that these bodies can be replaced with a single National Commission for Higher Education and Research, which will be empowered with statutory powers. In recent interactions, the heads of UGC and AICTE have opposed the closure of their institutions, asking instead for reforms to improve their functioning.

Set up at the initiative of prime minister Manmohan Singh, the committee also recommended the closure of the National Council for Teacher's Education (NCTE) and the National Accreditation and Assessment council (NAAC). It is scheduled to meet on June 22 in Delhi to finalise its report and decide on a date for its submission to the government.

The committee said the proposed National Commission for Higher Education and Research should be headed by a chairman and include seven other members.

Appointments to the commission will be made by a three-member panel comprising the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The committee has also recommended curtailing the powers of bodies like the Bar Council of India, the Medical Council of India, the Architecture Council and the Dental Education Council. It has recommended that the academic duties of these bodies be transferred to various universities.