Abstract: The transformation of independent colleges is a microcosm and concrete manifestation of the transformation of educational organizations, an inevitable choice to balance the contradiction between the increasing demand for higher education and the insufficient investment in educational funds. Facing and solving the development difficulties after the transformation is of great significance for promoting the connotative development of private higher education. This paper, employing the life cycle theory and taking five independent colleges in Guangxi as research samples, tells that after the transformation, these colleges are confronted with four practical challenges: loss of brand effect, insufficient teaching staff and structure, weak guarantee of educational conditions, and inadequate internal governance mechanisms. To cope with such challenges, it is necessary to strengthen top-level design and strengthen overall supervision, to optimize governance mechanisms and integrate resources from all parties, to build a teaching staff and improve the evaluation system, and to focus on cultural construction and enhance the reputation of the school so as to strengthen self-adaptation ability, thus consolidating its educational achievements while achieving high-quality development. As the development of educational organizations follows a life cycle pattern, phased transformation does not necessarily mean a full completion, but rather requires continuous accumulation of “quantity” for the next “qualitative” leap.

Key words: modernization of Chinese style education, educational organizations, independent colleges, transformation, policy guarantee