European universities have started to provide free lecture material to students via iTunes.

The venture was pioneered in the United States through the non-charging “iTunes U” section of the music downloading service, which is a free educational area launched by Apple last summer.

But now University College London (UCL), the Open University and Trinity College Dublin are uploading video and audio material for students to access and use on iPods or computers.

Professor Peter Mobbs at UCL said: “Our students will be able to revisit materials presented to them in lectures, so they can learn anywhere and anytime.”

Many UK universities already offer podcasts of lectures, but this will be the first time that such broadcasts have been distributed on the iTunes service.

The move is intended to make lectures more readily available to students at the institutions, but also to a wider public audience.

Open University Vice-Chancellor Brenda Gourlet commented: “Our aim is to partner our established distance learning expertise with the power of the internet to provide as mobile, flexible and personalised learning as possible, whatever your current educational level, personal circumstances or technological abilities.”

Cardiff University currently uses some podcasts, which are made available to students through Blackboard, Cardiff’s Virtual Learning Environment, and tend to provide supplementary educational materials.

A University spokesperson said: “There is also now ‘lecture capture’ equipment in the School of Engineering, which automatically records the audio of a lecture and synchronises it with the powerpoints used.”

Cardiff University has no current plans to use the iTunes service, but “would consider it”.