This was followed in 1997 by the promulgation of a law concerning the establishment of private schools, and in 1998 by a law on higher education which stipulates: "The state encourages ... other social organizations and citizens to establish institutions of higher education in accordance with the law." For the first time since 1949, the state had dropped its insistence on maintaining total control over education.
一九九七年又頒佈《社會力量辦學條例》；一九九八年《高等教育法》中也規定，「國家鼓勵…… 其他社會組織和公民依法舉辦高等學校」，打開了一九四九年以來國家包辦教育的「禁區」。