Kentucky's universities want to do more.

That's clear from testimony in Frankfort last week.

An additional medical school, a veterinarian school and more.

Today, programs might be in Kentucky's future, but that's only if state legislators sign off.

Our Clayton Dalton has more on potential changes to Kentucky's higher education system.

That begins tonight's legislative update.

Kentucky is facing workforce shortages in multiple professional sectors, especially in the health care field.

94% of Kentucky's counties have a shortage of primary care physicians, and a third of doctors in the Commonwealth are within retirement age.

But Eastern Kentucky University believes it can help and is seeking approval from the General Assembly to start a medical school.

And we continue to hear from our constituents, especially in rural communities, that we are struggling with access to health care during COVID, we saw that come to light, especially in those rural communities.

And what we did as a General Assembly is we challenged.

We as a General Assembly challenged our universities to come up with solutions.

And that's what he CU is doing with this.

We have three medical schools in this state and they do wonderful work.

But there were nearly 14,000 applications to those three institutions last year and 510 students got in.

As we look at other states similar to us, whether it be Alabama or South Carolina or Louisiana.

What we see is that those states have four or more medical schools trying to meet the needs of the health care needs in their communities.

Human health care isn't the only area where Kentucky is struggling.

Murray State University wants to open Kentucky's first veterinary school, but it could jeopardize the state's contract with Auburn University, which saved spots in Auburn's vet program exclusively for Kentucky students.

We have a limited number of practicing veterinarians in our state.

We have enough veterinarians in in some urban areas, but we have a complete lack of veterinarians in many, many of the of the more rural areas of our state.

So where you're currently are existing this are enjoying this contract with with Auburn University that's been in place many many years.

And we understand that that that contract has been beneficial.

But we see as we move forward that the future of veterinary medicine is only going to grow in the need of veterinarians.

And Western Kentucky University wants to level up its research status to become a level two research university or an AR two, focusing on applied research tailored to the region's needs.

Our ones are about theoretical research and a greater number of PhDs, but in our two is really about applied research with a limited number of PhDs associated with the economy and the workforce needs of the area.

And this is who WQ is today as an institution.

Every state surrounding Kentucky has at least one or two university.

Additionally, 80% of the nation's top ten boomtowns are within 50 miles of an R2 institution.

So our two universities also facilitate the transfer of knowledge from academia to industry and partnerships.

Great.

Create the development of practical applications for research findings.

But there is one area GCU needs to expand before reaching this new status.

And so for us to continue along the path, to accelerate and continue our research growth and portfolio and to meet the talent needs of our region, we really need to offer a select number of Ph.D. programs.

WQ is poised to be the first comprehensive university be able to offer Ph.D. programs, and that would solidify us as the Commonwealth's first research two institution.

All of these measures need approval from the General Assembly.

House Bills 404 oh seven, which give EKU and Murray State University permission to move forward with their proposals, have already gained passage in the House Senate Bill 201, which sets up GCU to offer Ph.D. programs, has yet to see its first vote for Kentucky Edition.

I'm Clayton Dalton.

Thanks so much, Clayton.

Kentucky's Council on Postsecondary Education will be in charge of overseeing all potential changes.