According to the International Standard of Classification of Education (2011), applied higher education should be defined as a professionally technical training activity on bachelor degree, subordinate to vocational education. Therefore, the start of PRC's applied higher education should actually be traced to the first seventeen years from the PRC's founding. College diploma and bachelor degree are offered. Regular colleges and multidisciplinary polytechnical universities impart basic knowledge and practical skills. Regular colleges and polytechnical universities' practical methods are different. In the late 1950s, educational thought and the practice of combining production, teaching and research come into being. The development of applied higher education during that time has important inspirations for today.