Ministry of Education, PRC Sino-foreign Cooperation in Running Schools Regulations Implementing Procedures

Issued: June 2 2004
Effective: July 1 2004
Applicability: The Procedures apply to the specific regulation of the establishment, activities and management of Sino-foreign cooperative schools, as well as the examination, approval and administration of Sino-foreign cooperative educational projects (of which no educational institution is established) such as academic certificate programmes, examination preparation study, tutorial study or preschool education carried out in accordance with the PRC Sino-foreign Cooperation in Running Schools Regulations (Article 2).
  Unless otherwise provided by the state, cooperation in educational projects between Mainland educational institutions and educational institutions from Hong Kong or Macao Special Administrative Region or Taiwan region shall, mutatis mutandis, be handled in accordance with these Procedures (Article 61).
  The Procedures do not apply to educational training activities jointly held by commercial Chinese training institutions registered with the administrative department for industry and commerce and commercial foreign educational training institutions (Article 59).
  The Procedures also do not apply to merely launching of student exchange activities with foreign educational institutions by way of mutual credit recognition without actually importing foreign educational resources by Chinese educational institutions (Article 60).

Main contents: The Procedures encourage Chinese educational organizations and their widely-recognized foreign counterparts to jointly run schools. It also encourages cooperation in launching emerging and urgently needed courses in China; and cooperation in running schools in the western regions, and remote and poor areas (Article 3). Sino-foreign cooperative schools will enjoy the same preferential treatment and awards as domestic non-governmental schools (Article 4). Part Two details the requirements and procedures for establishment of Sino-foreign cooperative schools. The price for the intellectual property rights injected in a Sino-foreign cooperative school by each party shall be determined by both parties through consultation in accordance with the principles of fairness and rationality or by evaluation conducted by an intermediary employed with the consent of both parties (Article 10). A Sino-foreign cooperative school is not permitted to set up any branches or sub-branches or launch other Sino-foreign cooperative schools (Article 7). Such school is also prohibited from engaging in profit-making activities (Article 28).
Related legislation: PRC Sino-foreign Cooperation in Running Schools Regulations, Mar 1 2003, CLP 2003 No.5 p32 and PRC Promotion of Non-government Education Law Implementing Regulations
Repealed legislation: State Education Commission, Sino-foreign Cooperation in Running Schools Tentative Provisions, Jan 26 1995, CLP 1995 No.3 p4