The Bill would be introduced in the current session of  Parliament, according to Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.

Speaking at a seminar on “Education reforms: opportunities and roadmap ahead”, here on Saturday, Sibal said the National Authority for Regulation in Accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions Bill  was part of the four legislations planned by the UPA government for bringing in  large-scale reforms in the education sector.
“All the colleges and universities — both in private and public sector — would be accredited by experts forming part of the National Accreditation Authority. The cabinet has already cleared the Bill. We will introduce it in the current session of Parliament,” Sibal told an audience comprising educationists, education providers and administrators, Vice chancellors of Universities and principals of colleges and schools. The accreditation would help students in identifying the best institutes in his area of interest.

Three other planned legislations on educational reforms pertain to containing educational malpractices and setting up educational tribunals and a National Commission for Higher Education and Research.
Reiterating that India should harness its demographic dividend by bringing in more youngsters into higher education system for the progress of Indian as well as world economy, Sibal said India was a young country even as major economies in the West and Japan were greying.

 “It is a gargantuan task. Currently only 12.5 per cent of India’s youngsters are enrolled in the higher education system. We want to improve the gross enrollment ratio (GER) in higher education to 30 percent by 2020. For that India will need 700-1000 more universities and 45,000 additional colleges,” he said.
He said expansion, excellence and inclusion were pillars of the education policy pursued by his government.

Seeking societal help to complement government’s educational reforms, the minister said the government had limited resources for opening more colleges and universities and therefore, it was encouraging Public Private Partnership model and foreign enterprises in educational sector.
DH News Service