Abstract: The article, employing population ecology rationale and institutional logic, examined the origin of independent colleges as a unique organizational form of higher education in China. The rise of independent colleges was due to the interplay among the following factors. Firstly, the imbalance between supply and demand and the shortage of funds in Chinese higher education were the typical resource constraints. Secondly, the diffusion of market mechanism in the economic sphere provided the cognitive inspiration of the ideas and methods. Thirdly, the public-benefit nature of education prevented completely educational marketization. Finally, the specific building blocks were from the decentralization reform of public higher education and the efforts of breaking through the marginalized status from private higher education. Then, that it's diffusing across the country and getting the approval of central government is mainly caused by the policy of the expansion of higher education admission and the investment shift of the business.

Key words: independent colleges, organizational form, institutional logics