3.3. Institutional Autonomy and Credit Equivalence Challenges
The operational integration of the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) exposes a fundamental tension between decentralised institutional autonomy and the imperative for centralised credit standardisation. As theoretical frameworks of policy implementation indicate, systemic translation of macro-level education mandates into micro-level institutional practices frequently falters when regulatory expectations diverge from local administrative capacities ("Policy Implementation in Higher Education," 2020). Within Indian higher education, this implementation deficit manifests acutely across state, central, and open university ecosystems, where disparate grading schemes, pedagogical structures, and evaluation benchmarks impede seamless credit mobility ("National Education Policy Nep 2020," 2026). While national frameworks envision an open, student-centric transfer regime, universities encounter formidable governance hurdles concerning credit equivalence determination, syllabus alignment, and mutual recognition of coursework across multidisciplinary domains ("From Policy to Practice," 2026). Furthermore, open and distance-learning institutions face distinct structural constraints in reconciling traditional administrative apparatuses with the high-velocity demands of digital credit verification and multiple entry-exit pathways ("Implementing India's New Education Policy," 2020). Consequently, without robust institutional mediation and harmonised criteria for credit conversion, the visionary flexibility promised by the ABC framework risks being constrained by procedural fragmentation and unequal institutional adoption across the sector.