NEARLY 300 city university students have teamed up with their United States peers to launch a state-of-the-art Website.

The site will enable Internet users around the world to watch the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games and was officially launched yesterday.

Jointly developed by Fudan University and the University of North Carolina, the Website (www.specialolympicslive.org) will send out student volunteers, including 15 from the US, to work around the clock to capture footage of every athlete during the whole Games period from Tuesday until October 12.

Videos collected will be edited immediately at laboratories in four universities - Fudan, Shanghai International Studies University, East China Normal University and Shanghai University - before being downloaded onto the Internet.

Supporters who are not able to attend the Games, especially friends and family members of the Special Olympics athletes, will be able to watch their favorites compete in Shanghai anywhere on the planet where there is Internet access.

Content will be first available for viewing on Tuesday, the day of the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics. Competition in earnest will begin from Wednesday.

Tim Shriver, chairman and chief executive officer of Special Olympics International, said that the student-led project is a milestone event.

"Because of our divisioning, we highlight athletes of all ability levels," Shriver said.

"The Website will allow us to share the joy and achievement of all our talented athletes from all over the world."

Yu Zhenwei, vice dean of Fudan's journalism school, said that the ground-breaking project gives students a rare chance to collaborate across cultures.

"This project is an incredible opportunity for UNC students to work with Chinese university students," said Michael Lindsay, one of the UNC students.

"We are very excited that we are making it possible for the world to see the amazing performances of every single one of the Special Olympic Games athletes."

Technological support needed to carry out the project came from a number of high-tech firms, including Apple Computers, Sony, Akamai, 6Rooms and Telestream.