The University of Kansas Medical Center is extending its reach into rural Kansas — specifically, aiming to fill a nursing shortage there — by opening a School of Nursing campus in Salina.

The university announced the creation of the new campus on Tuesday.

The program will accept its first class of 12 students beginning this fall, according to KU. KU’s goal is to expand class sizes to 18 students in 2019 and 24 students in 2020, reaching the maximum capacity of 48 students by year five of the program.

There are nursing shortages throughout the state, and immediate job opportunities are available in the Salina region for nurses who have earned baccalaureate degrees, according to KU.

Like the School of Nursing campus at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., the new campus will offer students a bachelor of science degree in nursing, accepting students who have already completed the first two years of their undergraduate education at KU or another school.

“An important part of the University of Kansas’ mission is to build healthy communities,” KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little said, in Tuesday’s news release. “This new KU School of Nursing location enables us to further our mission by educating additional health care providers so we can better meet the needs of Kansans, particularly in underserved parts of the state.”

The new nursing school will share existing facilities with the KU School of Medicine-Salina campus, which opened in 2011 for similar reasons — addressing the state’s need for more doctors, especially in rural communities.

The KU School of Medicine-Salina graduated its first class of students — eight of them — in 2015.

William Cathcart Rake, dean of the KU School of Medicine-Salina, said in KU’s announcement that he was excited about a regional nursing school campus to complement the medical school.

“We can share the lessons learned from the creation of a rural medical school campus and the opportunity to share resources and to participate in interprofessional educational activities,” he said.

KU is partnering with Salina Regional Health Center on the new School of Nursing campus.