Apple is opening an 'academy' for software developers in Italy
The academy, said to be the first of its kind, will reportedly teach up to 200 students how to build apps and launch them on Apple devices by the end of the year.
Apple has pledged to give each student an iPhone, iPad and MacBook at the start of the nine month iOS Developer Academy, which opens for business October 6, according to The Guardian.
Demand for the course is said to be high, with 4,000 people applying over 11 days for 200 places. Next year, about 400 students will reportedly pass through the academy.
Aspiring app developers will reportedly be able to enroll on the course for free thanks to a joint investment of around €10 million (£8.8 million) that came from Apple and the University of Naples Federico II.
The academy - still under construction according to The Guardian - will reportedly be located within Federico II's new San Giovanni campus. The "large, open plan" classroom that the academy will be run out of has reportedly been designed by Apple in collaboration with university professor Leopoldo Angrisani.
A university official reportedly gave a Guardian reporter a tour of the new facility but an Apple representative told them they had to leave when they realised the person on the tour was a journalist.
Apple did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.