Authors focused the undergraduate education at the College of Nursing, University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto Campus, through its historical and conceptual mark since its establishment in the 1950's. In the 1980's, a study of curriculum modification originated from a wide process of discussion, culminated in a proposal of formation of generalized nurses and the introduction of a new curriculum in 1989. According to authors' version, the prospectives to nursing education depend on the schools' reflection about the University's role in the reorientation of health services and formation of students aiming at political, scientific and technical competence to actuate at different levels of community health assistance. A new educational model will require a curriculum reorientation and the insertion of schools in the health services as a strategic component of the integration of education with professional practice.
nursing education; undergraduation teaching