In Oz, the training of nurses used to be by what seemed to be an extended apprenticeship system over 4 years; this allowed one to become a Registered Nurse and nurses always wore the badge of their training hospital. The most common types of further training were in the fields of Midwifery (a "Double Certificate" nurse usually took this route) and ICU (most of the "Triple Certificate" nurses I knew had these three) and these extra certifications each took two years' hospital training.

For the last two decades there has been a gradually increasing requirement that nurses undergo university education (towards a four year degree for the most basic requirements to become registered and the usual postgraduate system has provided the advanced training for specialist nurses; all training requires practicums. Those who only do a year's basic training are employed as State Enrolled Nurses (SENs) and perform all the basic tasks that keep the patients improving; any person now wishing to commence training for nursing is required to enrol in a university nursing degree course.

One of the advantages of a university education in an intensely vocational discipline is that it (usually but not universally) provides the graduate with an increased ability to learn, analyse, integrate, and generally make increasingly sophisticated judgements on matters relevant to the discipline. That isn't to say that those without a university education can't do such things, but you ought to be able to expect them, routinely, from those who have experienced a proper university education.

Cheers, Rowan