Abstract: Objective: To analyze the current status of the curriculum design for doctoral education in nursing in foreign countries and to provide reference for optimizing the curriculum design for nursing doctoral education in China. Methods: By means of the network and field survey, the curricular information of eight nursing schools in Northern America were collected and analyzed. Results: The curriculum design for nursing doctoral education highlighted nursing philosophy and theory, and advanced research methods. The courses mainly include five major categories, i.e. professional basic ability, scientific research, research methods, interdisciplinary frontier and academic writing. Various methods of teaching and evaluation were used flexibly and much importance was attached to the cultivation of scientific research ability, multidisciplinary cooperation ability and innovation ability training. Conclusion: China's nursing doctoral education can learn from foreign curriculum setting experience, update the curriculum design concept, refine the cultivation ability requirements, define the core courses of nursing, optimize teaching and evaluation methods, and deepen the research fields to further improve the quality of nursing doctoral students.

Key words: curriculum design; doctoral students; nursing education