Introduction: This paper describes outcomes from a curriculum project designed to integrate theory and practice into clinical nursing education an academic level. Clinical education has been the subject of discussions for a long time with a desire for change and improvement. The Swedish Red Cross University College of Nursing and the Karolinska Hospital made an agreement concerning a co-operative effort to improve nursing education. The focus of this project was to determine the benefits of an expanded teaching/learningDSmilieu from the perspective of teachers and students immersed in the second year of the three-year program. The research questions focused on to what extent teachers and students value the co-operation regarding teaching/ learning environment and research work. Methods: Data was gathered though interviews with teachers and students in the second year of the three-year undergraduate nursing program. Results: The student's responses indicated their need or contact with both expert nurses and patients throughout the program with an emphasis on building independence throughout the education process. However, the efforts put forth by the teachers to stimulate this independence were often quite difficult because of conflicts with the traditional view of the student role as dependent and adaptive. Discussion: The development of qualified nurses is a balance between dependence on faculty's advanced knowledge of science and expert clinical practice with individual strategies for developing skills as independent practitioners. It is important to refer to the earlier discussion on the interplay between theory and practice and the tension that has existed between the theoretical and the practical part of the nursing education. The requirement for scientification of the education has up to now mostly aimed at the theoretical education. The clinical education now must change to fulfil the demands for higher education.