The first nursing university was inaugurated in 1952. There used to be just eleven nursing colleges/ universities, but they sharply increased since 1992 with flexible curriculum organization in accordance with the university establishment standards outlined in 1991, and basic principles concerning nursing college/university establishment prescribed in Act on Assurance of Work Forces of Nurses and Other Medical Experts, enacted in 1992. In addition, lower birthrates and increasing rates of students advancing to college or university encourage schools to launch the training for nursing personnel in high social demand from the perspective of ensuring students. As a result, nursing colleges/universities numbered 234 as of 2014 while 158 master’s programs and 82 doctoral programs provided at graduate schools.