Independent Regulatory Bodies in Higher Education - An Option

In recent times, privatisation has resulted in exponential growth of the Higher education sector, resulting in a host of issues including the overall decline in quality of education, increased corruption and higher costs of education. The existing regulatory response is not in tandem with these rapid changes. Therefore, newer models of regulation need to be explored and experimented with. In this paper, I explore the Independent Regulatory Authorities (IRA) models as possible alternative to the existing regulatory mechanism. The IRA model is already being experimented by two states in India - the Higher Education Regulatory Commissions of Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. In the first section, I outline the functioning of these regulatory institutions, their impact and analyse the regulatory instruments adopted by them. In the next section, the paper examines the legal or constitutional challenges currently faced by these institutions, as their legality is under scrutiny by the courts. In the concluding section, I explore the regulatory models across the world, with a specific focus on IRAs, to understand what models best suit the specific challenges of the education sector in India.