I'm from Italy, my parents were both nurses, they started in the middle 70s, they did apprenticeships while working directly at the Hospital (couple of major Hospitals in Rome).
They received a degree of professional nurse at the end of the three year course that has been made equivalent to the new three year University degree that is required now.
My view on the subject is that it was unnecessary.
My opinion is that in Italy there was a low number of graduates compared to other European countries, so we created this short term University courses to compensate for it that don't match the MD courses, not even closely, they are just the same old apprenticeships updated and rebranded.
Germany is unique among European countries in having apprenticeships for nursing.