INDIA: Radical reform of higher education to start soon

In an ambitious blueprint for reform of the education sector, the high-powered Yashpal Committee has recommended scrapping a cluster of powerful bodies - the University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education, National Council for Teacher Education and Distance Education Council - reports The Times of India. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said government would try to implement the Yashpal recommendations within 100 days, according to Indian Express.

The committee said the plethora of regulatory bodies should be replaced by a super regulator: a seven-member Commission for Higher Education and Research (CHER) under an Act of Parliament. It has also recommended, obviously with a view to buffer the new regulator against political and other pressures, that the position of chairperson of the CHER should be analogous to that of election commissioners.

The committee, whose report is expected to serve as a template for measures to clean up the mess in higher education, has also recommended that Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management be turned into universities.
Full report on The Times of India site
Report on the Indian Express site