Stanford University has always been ahead of the high-tech curve when it comes to education. Voted one of the top wired colleges in the nation, Stanford prides itself in being among the first to offer online classes on iTunes, podcasts, eTextbooks, and more.

Therefore, it's no surprise to hear the university is now the first to offer an iPhone application course this fall that teaches students how to develop their own very profitable iPhone applications. Some wondered how Stanford could teach such a class given Apple's NDA agreement, but the company just launched the iPhone Developer University Program which offers students a free iPhone software development kit, center resources, and App Store distribution. So far Stanford says 80 students have already enrolled in the class, but I'm sure that number will increase after this week's media coverage.

Stanford is also trying out a suite of iPhone applications created by a couple of its own students. The new Stanford iPhone Suite includes five applications that allow students to add/drop courses, plan schedules, look up other students in Stanford's directory, view/pay school bills, look up class locations, and even check the latest football scores.

Apple's site doesn't say what other schools, if any, are offering a similar course, but any university can apply to the program so let your professors know.