Introduction: Emotional intelligence (EI) has an important potential role in nursing education and is necessary for personal mental health and professional practice. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the emotional intelligence of nursing students and its relation with some demographic characterizes in educational levels of the undergraduate, MSc, PhD in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population included 169 nursing students that were selected using proportionate stratification. Data were collected by a questionnaire that was consisted of two parts; demographic characteristics and” BarOn EQ-i” questionnaire which was included 90 questions and 15 scales. Data analysis were conducted uaing description statistics tests (mean, frequency, standard deviation) and inferential statistical tests (spearman correlation, Pearson correlation test, T test, ANOVA test and LSD) with SPSS 16.

Results: The students' mean score of emotional intelligence was 336.53 ±33.08. There was significant correlation between emotional intelligence score in married status) P=0.02, t= 2.21 (and educational term (p=0.05, r=0.15) and There was significant difference between the score of emotional intelligence in educational levels of the undergraduate, MSc and PhD in nursing students (P<0.05 (and its subscales in Empathy, Responsibility, Reality Testing, Stress Tolerance and Optimism (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Considering emotional intelligence is important for high quality care; hence, necessity of fostering this scope. Therefore, appropriate education corresponding to the grade should be effective in promoting care system in improving services provided.