Abstract: Objective To explore the challenges existing in graduate education of nursing master's degree and put forward corresponding countermeasures. Methods The theme framework method was used to analyze the special evaluation summary report from 28 universities and 15 experts' comments during a special evaluation for candidates of master degree of nursing in 2014. Results It was found that 53.6%(15/28) of the training institutions for master of nursing degree were located in the eastern developed areas, while high-uality talents were scarce in the western region. And 14.3%(4/28) of the training institutions and 4 experts believed that the training objectives of various professional fields of nursing professimal degree were still unclear. The results also showed that 21.4%(6/28) of the training institutions and 5 experts thought that the type of clinical practice base could not meet the requirements of professional degree practice The setting of training links such as course teaching and clinical practice can not reflect the training goal of professional degree meeting the needs of clinical posts. Conclusions There are still some problems in the professional degree education of master of nursing, such as the mismatch between the supply and demand of talents in the eastern and western regions, the ineffective integration of resources such as clinical practice base, teaching staff and funding, and weak training links. In the future, it is necessary to strengthen the discipline construction, improve the support and training system construction, so as to cultivate high-level practical nursing talents.

Key words: Nursing, Master's degree, Graduate education, Enrollment, Training