Abstract: This paper addresses this issue based on much statistical data. The birth of independent colleges is due to the dramatic imbalance between the supply and demand of higher education under the popularization of higher education and the recession environment of enterprises. The geographical distribution of independent colleges is basically balanced and significantly related with the regional economic and the scale of regular higher-education institutions. The disciplinary structure of independent colleges is similar to that of the ordinary universities and adapted to the social demand for senior engineering and financial talents. The independent colleges as well as other private colleges lack a high-level full-time faculty, but the proportion of their staff is significantly less than that of universities under the ministry of education. The performances of these independent colleges held by the 211-engineering universities are generally better than that of others based on the performances of their supervisors and the assessments from the alumni website.