Despite wide disparities of political support, material resources, and systems of
initial education, there exists an increasing global recognition that the level of
nursing education has a close relationship with access to and quality of care.
Still, individual nations also maintain alternative ways of educating nurses that
are rooted in strong traditions. This paper explores the systems in China and
Egypt. These countries have important differences. Education in China, for
example, has been more heavily influenced by models from the United States,
whereas Egypt has looked to those from Britain and France. Most striking,
however, is what they now share. Both countries’ systems of nursing education
are now clearly located in an increasingly global world of health, and health care
that recognizes that a more educated nursing workforce remains the critical
component of any initiative to better meet health care needs.