<P> Prior to the transfer of nursing education to the university sector, nurses were trained on the job in a three - year course of theory and practice instruction in hospital nursing schools and on the wards commencing with a 6 - week preliminary training school (PTS) with the earliest accepted entry age being 17 years . First, second and third year student nurses were often distinguished by the number of stripes on their uniform caps and or belts . Hospital - based examinations were held each year and a successful pass meant progression to the next year and a fail meant a student nurse was cut, no second chances . Three years of student nursing culminated in final year exams . Student Nurses were paid employees of the parent hospital and there was no sick leave . If a student nurse missed time off through sick leave over the three years of training this time was added on to be worked at the end of the three years and if not worked a nurse was not allowed to graduate . Hospitals awarded distinctive badges and veils (think the flying nun) upon graduation . In addition, state registering authorities awarded a badge of registration . These were generally worn with pride on the uniform collars . </P> <P> As early as the 1930s, attempts were made to establish university credentialed nursing courses in Australia, most notably by then director of nursing at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne . As recently as the 1970s, Sandra Stacy, one of the first Australian nurses to attain a PhD enrolled in a school of anthropology to submit her thesis . </P> <P> In the late 1970s, the Royal College of Nursing Australia pioneered a course that became the Diploma of Applied Science (Nursing), awarded by the Lincoln Institute in Melbourne and Cumberland College in Sydney . The transfer of nursing education to the university sector continued throughout the 1980s, and gradually hospital schools ceased operating . In the early 1990s, universities finally granted nursing education the same status as allied health, and granted bachelor degrees in nursing rather than diplomas for entry - level courses . </P> <P> The first move towards baccalaureate recognition was the development of the Bachelor of Applied Science (Advanced Nursing), a post graduate degree that required registration as a registered nurse as a prerequisite to admission and completion of 16 units . This course is no longer offered, and has been superseded by the transition of "post basic courses" conducted by various hospitals as a form of in - service training to the tertiary sector . The College of Nursing still runs post graduate certificate courses for nurses in many specialities . </P>

When did nursing become a degree in australia