The Union government’s Economic Survey for 2024-25 has advised against insistence by the University Grants Commission (UGC) on compliance by institutions to its rules and said institutions desiring to stand by their hard-won reputations should be free to carve out their own path.

The advice came at a time when the higher education regulator had sought to make compliance by institutions mandatory to its contentious draft regulations on the appointment of teachers in universities and colleges.

The Survey has suggested that certain niche institutions, which are focused on specific areas and excelling in those domains, should not be made to comply with standard regulations framed by the UGC.

“Standardisation of key parameters and consistency of programmes across institutions is perhaps the objective of these regulations. Achieving compliance with UGC norms may be an excellent way for institutions to achieve credibility in the eyes of prospective students, faculty, and employees. On the other hand, such compliance is not essential for quality institutions,” the Survey said.

“These have already achieved strong reputations in teaching, research and placement of their students. These institutions have innovated on some dimensions of their functioning, and they should be encouraged to follow that path since that is the only way to compete with global institutions,” it said.

“Institutions that desire to stand by their own hard-won reputations should be free to carve out their own path. There is no greater accountability than that demanded by the market through prospective faculty, students, their parents, and collaborating academic and non-academic institutions,” it said.

The document said that institutions not following the UGC rules should prominently state that they are not complaint-certified by the regulator. It said the institutions should fulfil the minimum accreditation requirements but compliance of UGC regulations should be voluntary.

"It is important to embrace diversity and to trust the genius of faculty and students to come up with frameworks that are novel, creative and impactful on society,” it said.