RMIT partners with Apple to offer app development university course

When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, little did we know it would spark an incredible boom as developers turned their skills to creating apps. And now you will be able to study it at university following Apple’s global expansion of its Everyone Can Code initiative.

RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia’s largest higher education institution, will now add App Development with Swift to its curriculum in one of the broadest deployments of the course in the world.

It is a full year course created by Apple’s engineers and educators to teach app design and coding to students of all levels.

Students will be taught the Swift programming language and learn the skills needed to pursue a career in the booming Apple economy.

“We launched the Everyone Can Code initiative less than a year ago with the ambitious goal of offering instruction in coding to as many people as possible,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our program has been incredibly popular among US schools and colleges, and today marks an important step forward as we expand internationally.

“We are proud to work with RMIT and many other schools around the world who share our vision of empowering students with tools that can help them change the world.”

There are now more than 20 colleges and universities outside the US are offering the course.

RMIT is now one of more than 20 international universities offering the course. Others include Mercantec in Denmark, Hogeschool van Arnheim en Nijmegan in the Netherlands, Unitec Institute of Technology in New Zealand and Plymouth University in the UK.

“App Development with Swift will play a crucial role in helping RMIT’s students use their creativity and entrepreneurship to prepare for success in the 21st century workforce,” said Martin Bean CBE, RMIT University vice chancellor and president.

“These are the sort of skills Australians need for the jobs of the future, and we’re thrilled to work with Apple to deliver this important curriculum.”

Fourth year RMIT student Tenisha Fernando says she is excited to have the chance to begin learning with Apple’s App Development curriculum, and for the opportunities it can open up in the future.

“The Swift programming language is used by developers to create some of the world’s best apps, and it would be great to join them in sharing my own ideas,” she said.

More than $US70 billion has been paid to developers since the App Store opened in 2008.

Customers have downloaded more than 180 billion apps in that time.