Sun Yat-sen University has been among the largest CMB-supported nursing programs in China through a previous project in doctoral education and strengthening nursing school faculty (Faculty and Doctoral Student Training Grant No. 04-808 in the amount of $815,000). In this proposed three-year program, SYSU would take on a leadership role in three key activities: (1) the launching and functioning of a Network of eight CMB-funded nursing schools in three programmatic areas: doctoral education, strengthening community nursing, and policy-relevant research; (2) collaborating with PUMC and other interested CMB-funded university in developing a new model for doctoral education in China; and (3) leading the Network research initiative to determine the density of nurse employment in hospitals, skill mix, and nursing roles as they relate to quality of care and retention of a qualified nurse workforce. Each of these activities has important components. Network functioning will require a website, the conduct of regular Network meetings, and sharing of resources. The doctoral training will be developed in collaboration with PUMC and other interested schools. In research, each school in the Network will participate in data collection in eight hospitals in their geographic area providing a representative sample of hospitals nationally. A sub-allocation will fund technical support from University of Pennsylvania researchers who have implemented a similar research protocol in other countries. The study should serve as a galvanizing activity for the network, and the results should help nurse leaders become more involved in the policy process.