Just last week, Apple launched the iPhone Developer University Program, a free educational program aimed at universities to teach students of computer science how to develop software for the iPhone. The move has raised a lot of questions about how such a course could be taught with the current NDA restrictions Apple has in place.

Apple’s description:

The iPhone Developer University Program is a free program designed for higher education institutions looking to introduce curriculum for developing iPhone or iPod touch applications. The University Program provides a wealth of development resources, sophisticated tools for testing and debugging, and the ability to share applications within the same development team. Institutions can also submit applications for distribution in the App Store.

At least some institutions have already expressed interest in offering iPhone development courses. Earlier this week, North London’s Qantm College announced plans to offer a course in developing games for the iPhone as a platform. Before that, Stanford announced their intention to offer a course on developing applications in general.

While it will probably be a good investment in the health of their development ecosystem down the road, the announcement is raising a lot of questions from current developers and non-developers alike about how it will be possible under the restrictions the NDA currently imposes. Right now Apple forbids the disclosure or open discussion about most or all aspects surrounding the development of iPhone apps, something that will obviously be necessary to teach a course on the subject.

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