<p>The development of academic and professional postgraduate education has become a strategic imperative in Chinese higher education reform. However, implementation of policies related to these initiatives varies substantially across institutions, revealing a key research gap concerning how and why such variation occurs. This study addresses this gap by applying an institutional logics perspective to examine how multiple logics—including state, academic, market, professional, commercial, and Confucian cultural logics—interact and shape policy implementation processes at both macro- and micro-levels. Drawing on policy document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 26 professional Master’s students, the findings reveal: (1) tensions between macro-level directives and micro-level practices which lead to fragmented enactment of professional training models; (2) how faculty members selectively assimilate non-academic logics into dominant academic frameworks, resulting in the reproduction of academic identities within professional programs; and (3) how enduring Confucian knowledge hierarchies and relational norms covertly privilege theoretical over practical knowledge, reinforcing the marginalization of professional degrees. By demonstrating how these logics interact in practice, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of institutional hybridity in non-Western higher education systems and underscores the necessity of acknowledging complex cultural logics in models of policy implementation. These insights offer critical implications for advancing the effectiveness and equity of postgraduate education reforms in China, and beyond.</p>