In researching my recent story, iTunes U: Educating the world, Apple provided me with some updated figures for its free education portal on iTunes.

According to Apple, iTunes U has had more than 600 million downloads since it first launched in 2007. What’s even more impressive is that they’ve had more than 300 million in the last year alone — a testament to the growing popularity of the service.

Currently, iTunes U boasts more than 1,000 universities with active accounts. Schools contributing to the program range from big to small and include some of the world’s most prestigious institutions like Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, University of Melbourne and University of Tokyo.

As you would expect, a number of universities have a large amount of downloads. Emory University, Harrisburg Area Community College, Ludwig Maxmillians University (Germany) and Oxford University have all surpassed 10 million downloads on iTunes U. Yale University, MIT, University of California Berkeley and University of South Florida have more than 20 million downloads.

Topping the list of universities in downloads are Open University and Stanford University, each with more than 30 million downloads.

While many of us think of iTunes U as being a part of the desktop experience, 30 percent of iTunes U traffic comes from iOS devices.

iTunes U is currently available in 123 countries, which would explain why 60 percent of iTunes U users are from outside the U.S.