This study clarifies how local private higher education institutions in China have developed different reforms processes depending on their existing problems. Additionally, they created market affinity by emphasizing their strengths and characteristics, when they introduced applied human resource development models that met the needs of the industries surrounding them. It also explores how to design self-sustainable applied human resource development. This paper is based on a field survey conducted from October to November 2019 in Hebei Province, mainly focusing on private higher education institutions. Among the 36 private higher education institutions in Hebei Province, we selected two case study institutions in each category that were close to the average level in terms of the employment rate of graduates in 2019. In introducing the applied human resource development model, local private higher education institutions have actively solved the traditional mismatch problems. In addition, they have developed self-reliance to deepen their affinity with local industries, for example, by offering specialized fields of study that match the priorities of local industrial development and teaching content that can be managed by faculty members with experience in local companies. In other words, self-sustainable development is a consciousness that emphasizes affinity with the applied-level human resources that are practically required in the local market. This approach materializes human resource development reform to utilize the comparative advantages of the institution.