PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) — Pittsburg State University has won approval to start offering a doctorate degree in nursing.

The Joplin Globe  reports that Irene Ransom Bradley School of Nursing asked the Kansas Board of Regents to transition the current master’s level advanced practice nursing program into the doctoral program. The Regents agreed last week.

The school hopes to admit their first students into the program in the spring for a summer 2015 start date.

University officials say the demand for doctoral level advanced practice nurses is expected to increase both in the region and across the nation. They cited a recommendation from the Institute of Medicine that the field of nursing provide twice as many doctoral graduates by 2020 in order to build a primary care work force in the U.S.