The demand for care has been constantly increasing in industrialized countries, due to the chronicization of diseases and the aging of the population. Healthcare workforce has yet proved insufficient to meet these growing needs. In accordance with European directives concerning the harmonization of higher education, the French government has undertaken the academization of health curricula. All health professionals previously trained in specialized schools or institutes will receive some training in a university. Nurses are the profession that entered this movement the latest, while advanced nurse practitioners are the most likely to supplement physicians in the provision of primary care. The changing nature of nursing could though provide a solution to what has been coined in France as “medical deserts.” This paper would examine the history of the integration of nursing degrees into higher education in France, with some points of comparison with North America.