| The rapid advancement of scientific technology, the worldwide transformation of the healthcare system, and the paradigm shift from disease treatment to health promotion and illness prevention, requires new qualified nurses to be trained in higher nursing education program. Globalization has been one of the driving forces not only for international economic activities, but also for the nursing profession and nursing education internationally, including China. The development of standards about nursing education in foreign countries and the establishment of International Standards in Basic Medical Education and Global Minimum Essential Requirement exert a profound influence on nursing education in China. In recent years, the enrollment of higher nursing education program keeps increasing in China, however, some problems like unclear training objectives and unsatisfactory education quality in nursing program occur, which call attentions on assurance of nursing education quality. To study and develop our national standards on higher nursing education, which reflecs the requirements by social market about future nurses'knowledge, skills, values and competencies, is of great importance in improving our nursing education quality and promoting the standardization and internationalization of our nursing education.Right thought leads to right action, the establishment of a scientific national standard on nursing education needs scientific pilot study on guideline and strategies about the construction of the standard. We try to clarify the content and classification of nursing education standards through literature analysis and theoretical reasoning. On the basis of comparing and analyzing the development of foreign countries'standards of nursing education, an exploration on guidelines and strategies about the construction of the standards was made. Functional analysis was suggested to be a useful approach in the development of education standards for professional nursing practice. On the basis of analyzing the corresponding theories in pedagogy, psychology and social talents classification, a framework about the quality standard of higher education for professional nursing practice was constructed and the principle and process of construction of the standard was explored.This study consists of five parts, which are shown as follows.Part One: IntroductionFirst, the background, the meaning, the purpose of the study and related study in this area were reviewed and discussed. Second, the scheme and approaches applied in the study were described, which include literature analysis, survey, interview, case study, reasoning and deduction, etc.Part Two: Explanation of higher nursing education quality standardAs a constitute part of higher education system, the view of education quality and quality standard of higher nursing education was inevitably influenced by the opinion and research production of the parent system. After comparing the concepts about quality, standard, higher education standard, education quality standard in a multi-discipline way, we define higher nursing education quality as the extent to which higher nursing education meet the needs of its clients or stakeholders, which was shown on the quality of the products of higher nursing education—the graduates of nursing program, i.e. the extent to which the knowledge, skills, attitude and values of the graduates meet the requirements of the stakeholders. Education quality standards can be divided into two kinds: one is natural quality standard, which represent the nature and characteristics of programs of study and training, and it does not refer to specific assessment process, but only give values and guidelines to the assessment. The other is quality assessment standard, which can be used as a means to assess the quality of resources, the curriculum, the teaching and learning process, etc. In a word, higher nursing education quality standards can be divided into two kinds: one is the natural quality standard of higher nursing education, which is to describe the nursing subject's general academic and professional characteristics, and represents general expectation about threshold standards for the award of qualifications at a given level and articulate the attributes and capabilities that those possessing such qualifications should be able to demonstrate. The other is quality assessment standard of higher nursing education, which describes the qualification of the institution, resources invested, and the training process, etc. based on the purpose of accreditation.In the context of rapid development of higher education today, when establishing the quality standards of higher nursing education, the interests of all stakeholders, such as the government, educator, students and parents, employers, and healthcare consumers should be considered. Principles include social-fitness, human-orientation, academic-focus, and sustainable development should be taken into account.Part Three: Description of higher nursing education standards in foreign countries and a transcultural exploratory study about themTo probe into the development of the foreign nursing education and its quality standards, some representative standards were involved, such as those of the US, the UK, and Australia. It is found that two kinds of nursing education standards mentioned above work together harmoniously and give great contribution to the improvement of nursing education quality for their countries. The natural quality standards like American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)'s Essential documents works as the core of whole standards entity. The approach, methods and process about standards construction were discussed. A survey approach was used to obtain the perceptions of Chinese nurse educators regarding the importance and cultural relevance of 40 key concepts extracted from two representative standards, i.e. AACN's essentials document for baccalaureate nursing students and NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council in UK)'s national competency standards for pre-registration nursing education. In keeping with the intent of the standards documents above, this study was limited to baccalaureate nursing programs in China. Respondents used a five-point Likert-type scale for each of the 40 key concepts. 111 nurse educators from 41 nursing education institutes were involved in the survey study. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed on the demographic and quantitative data. Implications can be concluded as a result of the study above, which include: First, it is necessary to set up two kinds of nursing education standards in China to improve nursing training quality, i.e. the natural quality standard and the quality assessment standard. Second, the natural quality standard should be constructed at first. Third, the quality standards of foreign countries could be very useful resources regarding the construction of Chinese nursing education quality standards, and at the same time, keeping our nation's own cultural tradition is also very important.Part Four: Theoretical basis of the construction of higher nursing education quality standardsSome theories related to pedagogy, psychology and social talents classification were discussed in the construction of higher nursing education quality standards. The structure of social talents evolves with the development of the society, and education must keep pace with the change of social talents structure. Talents in different fields have different social efficiency, the requirements for different social efficiency lead to discrepancy in the making of knowledge and ability, the expected discrepancy calls for different curriculum, and finally it is easy to understand that different types education should have their own quality standards. From analysis of the role and characteristics, higher nursing talents would be practical engineering talents rather than simple technical workers. According to international education standards classification, higher nursing education above baccalaureate level should be involved in 5A program. The theories about quality education and successful intelligence are all very useful resource in the improvement of higher nursing education quality. Higher nursing education has a competence system different from general higher education.Part Five: The strategies of higher nursing education quality standard construction and the framework of the standard's logic systemOn the basis of detailed analysis of corresponding approach, it is thought that functional analysis approach and outcome-based model should be better than the traditional task analysis approach and input-based model. To fulfill the role and purpose of nursing profession, the comprehensive application of nursing scientific foundation, the fundamental nursing competencies and the core nursing competencies were necessary. The order of values regarding related knowledge, skills, ability, and values was served as the basis of construction of the"spider net"-shaped logic framework of the higher nursing education quality standard. The framework can work as a guideline for nursing educator to design their curriculum; provide a blueprint of required knowledge, skills and values for the nursing faculty and students; give values and guidelines to the assessment of higher nursing education quality; communicate with the public about the quality standard of nursing education; promote the communication among nursing education colleagues worldwide.In conclusion, first, Principles include social-fitness, human-orientation, academic-focus, and sustainable development should be taken into account when developing the higher nursing education standards. Second, functional analysis approach and outcome-based model could be applied to the process of standard construction. Third, the quality standards of foreign countries could be very useful resources. Finally, government should lead the nursing professional to set up the standard, and the whole process of standard construction should be scientific and systematic.
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