‘UGC, AICTE merger may not come about till 2019’

New Delhi, June 1: The proposed merger of the two apex bodies for higher education - the UGC and the AICTE - may not come about before 2019 as it has been shelved till the Narendra Modi government gets a majority in the upper house of Parliament, an informed source has said. The Human Resource Development Ministry had last year proposed to fuse the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) into the Higher Education Empowerment Regulation Agency (HEERA). A ministry source however told IANS that since the establishing HEERA will require approval in both houses of Parliament, the government may wait till it has majority in the Rajya Sabha. The proposed agency may have two Vice Chairpersons to look after the work which at present come under the UGC and the AICTE. (IANS)