Objective To test the reliability and validity of the Nursing Student Competence Scale (NSCS) among vocational college nursing interns, and to provide a reliable tool for assessing nursing competence of this population. Methods The NSCS was revised through expert consultation and a pilot survey, then a convenience sample of 576 nursing interns from a vocational college in Leshan City was surveyed to evaluate the scale′s reliability and validity. Results The NSCS consists of 30 items. Exploratory factor analysis identified six common factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, accounting for 83.506% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good model fit (χ2/df=1.226, GFI=0.905, TLI=0.991, CFI=0.992, NFI=0.959, IFI=0.992, RMSEA=0.028). The composite reliability values for the six dimensions ranged from 0.925 to 0.970, and the average variance extracted ranged from 0.715 to 0.868. The item-level content validity index ranged from 0.800 to 1.000, and the scale-level content validity index was 0.933. The overall Cronbach′s α coefficient was 0.895, and the test-retest reliability was 0.988.Conclusion The instrument exhibited acceptable psychometric properties, thereby proving itself a valuable tool for assessing nursing students′ competence at vocational college education program.