Article 9 Public organizations that establish privately-run schools shall possess the qualifications of a legal person.

Individuals that establish privately-run schools shall possess political rights and full capacity for civil conduct.

A privately-run school shall have the qualifications of a legal person.

Article 10 The establishment of a privately-run school shall meet the local need for educational development and the requirements provided for by the education Law and relevant laws and regulations.

The standards for the establishment of privately-run schools shall, mutates mutandis, conform to those for the establishment of government-run schools of the same grade and category.

Article 11 The establishment of privately-run schools that provide education for academic credentials, pre-school education, training for preparing self-study examinations and other cultural education shall be subject to examination and approval by the administrative departments for education under the people’s governments at or above the county level within the limits of their powers defined by the State; the establishment of a privately-run school that mainly provides training for vocational skills, including training for vocational qualification, shall be subject to examination and approval by the administrative department for labor and social security under the people’s government at or above the county level within the limits of its powers defined by the State, which shall send a duplicate of the approval document to the administrative department for education at the same level for the record.

Article 12 To apply for preparing to establish a privately-run school, the sponsor shall submit to the examination and approval authority the following materials:

(1) an application, the contents of which mainly include: the sponsor, the aims of education, size of the student body, level of the school, forms of education, conditions for establishing and running the school, internal management system, raising of funds and their management and use, etc.;

(2) name of the sponsors and their addresses or the title of the sponsor and its address;

(3) source of the assets, amount of the funds and their effective certificates, in which the property rights are clearly stated; and

(4) where the assets of the school are donated, an agreement on the donations, in which the names of the donators, the amount of the assets donated, their use and management, and the relevant effective certificates are clearly stated.

Article 13 The examination and approval authority shall, within 30 days from the date it receives the application for preparing to establish a privately-run school, make a decision in writing on whether to approve it or not.

If it approves the application, it shall issue a written approval for preparing to establish the school; and if it does not approve the application, it shall explain the reasons.

The period of preparation for establishment of such a school shall not exceed three years; and if it exceeds three years, the sponsor shall renew its application.

Article 14 To apply for official establishment of a privately-run school, the sponsor shall submit the following materials to the examination and approval authority:

(1) the written approval for preparing to establish the school;

(2) a report on the preparations made for the establishment;

(3) articles of association of the school and the name lists of the component members of the first executive council, board of directors or other decision-making bodies of the school;

(4) effective certificates of the assets of the school; and

(5) qualification certificates of the principal, teachers, and bookkeepers and accountants.

Article 15 Where conditions for the establishment of a school are satisfied and the standards for establishment are reached, an application may directly be made for its official establishment, and the materials specified in Article 12 and subparagraphs (3), (4) and (5) of Article 14 of this Law shall be submitted.

Article 16 Where an application for official establishment of a privately-run school is made, the examination and approval authority shall, within three months from the date it receives the application, make a decision in writing on whether to approve it or not, and sere the decision on the applicant; and where in this regard, an application is made for the official establishment of a privately-run institution of higher education, the examination and approval authority may, within six months from the date it receives the application, likewise make a decision in writing on whether to approve it or not and serve the decision on the applicant.

Article 17 The examination and approval authority shall issue a license for establishment of a school to the privately-run school for the official establishment of which it gives approval.

Where the examination and approval authority does not approve the official establishment of a school, at shall explain the reasons.

Article 18 Where a privately-run school obtains the license for establishment and, in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations, registers with the registration authority, the latter shall immediately handle the matter in accordance with relevant regulations.