Union cabinet has Approved the National Education Policy-2020 (NEP-2020) "Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability, this policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs and aimed at bringing out the unique capabilities of each student."
As far as higher education is concerned, NEP-2020 aims 'to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035.' For this, the Centre and the States will will work together to raise the public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP.
The NEP-2020 evisages 'broad based, multi-disciplinary, and holistic' Under Graduate (UG) education with 'flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification.'
Consequently, the UG education of 3 or 4 years will consist of multiple exit-entry options which means certificate (after 1 year), Advanced Diploma (after 2 years), Bachelor’s Degree (after 3 years) and Bachelor’S Degree with Research (after 4 years) will be the new norm. Both, the public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the 'same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards.'
According to MHRD, NEP-2020 will bring transformational reforms in higher education systems with its features like Academic Bank of Credits; National Research Foundation; National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy; National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit; Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation; National Educational Technology Forum; National Assessment Centre -PARAKH; Gender Inclusion Fund; Special Education Zone; National Research Foundation; Academic Bank of Credit, Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs); National Mission for Mentoring, etc.
The NEP-2020 hols out that a Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) with penalising powers will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body the for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education with the following four independent verticals
National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation
General Education Council (GEC ) for standard setting
Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding,
National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation
Some maim features of higher education under NEP-2020 are as follows.
Flexibility in Higher Education curriculum and Subjects choices
Certification with Multiple Entry / Exit system and Academic Bank of Credits
Institutional Affiliation System to be phased out in 15 years with graded autonomy to colleges
Higher Education administration through single regulator with four separate verticals for different functions
Promotion of Multilingualism
Creation of Robust Teacher Recruitment and Career Path
community engagement in higher education
Adding 3.5 Crore new seats to higher education institutions
Also, the NEP-2020 has gone for a comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE-2021) so that by 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a "4-year integrated B.Ed. degree" and substandard stand-alone teacher education institutions will be phased out.
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