A project of the World Health Organization, the École Internationale d'Enseignement Infirmier Supérieur opened in Lyon on September 6, 1965. It closed thirty years later. After discussing the national and international context for its creation, the article shows that the project involved a group of pioneers and activists for the cause of nurses, each operating in their own way. Archival and contemporary printed sources are used, as well as interviews with those involved, managers and teaching staff present for the opening of the school, all of whom are women. Their careers, training, personality, pedagogical choices, and publication all bear witness to their desire to contribute actively to the development and reputation of nursing care as a discipline, even if it was not named as such. They were inspired in this by situations abroad, which were more advanced than that of France. Their good intentions clashed with the complex reality of the issues and interactions of multiple actors involved in making this project a reality.