VIJAYAWADA: In a significant step toward enhancing educational infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh, Minister for HRD and IT, Nara Lokesh, introduced three important bills in the Legislative Council, all of which were unanimously approved.
The bills include the India International University of Legal Education and Research of the Bar Council of India Trust (IIULER) Bill-2025, the Andhra Pradesh Private Universities Establishment and Amendment Bill-2025, and the Andhra Pradesh Universities Amendment Bill-2025.
Addressing the Council, Minister Lokesh elaborated on the importance of the IIULER Bill, which aims to establish a world-class legal education and research university in Amaravati. He noted that the Bar Council of India (BCI) set a precedent with the National Law School in Bengaluru in 1986, which became a model for legal education nationwide.
On the Andhra Pradesh Private Universities Establishment and Amendment Bill-2025, Lokesh highlighted the State’s efforts to streamline regulations to attract top-tier educational institutions. He said that the original Private Universities Act of February 11, 2016, categorised universities into greenfield and brownfield segments, enabling the establishment of 14 private universities in the state.
However, a 2023 amendment imposed stringent conditions, requiring joint certification degrees with top-100 global universities, NAAC ratings above 3.0, or top-100 NIRF rankings, which posed challenges for new greenfield universities.
These conditions, conflicting with UGC 2022 regulations, hindered the entry of foreign universities and delayed joint degree programmes by four to six years. The new amendment removes these restrictive clauses to encourage global and private universities, Additionally, the AP Universities Amendment Bill-2025 was introduced to eliminate outdated terminology, specifically removing the word ‘leprosy’ from existing laws.
Lokesh also reaffirmed the government is committed to establishing a High Court bench in Kurnool.