COLUMBIA, Mo. - Organizers of the Beijing Olympics are looking for a few good students.
The Beijing Organizing Committee is recruiting 300 students primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia to work as volunteers at the Olympic News Service next summer. Sun Weijia, BOCOG's director of media operations, was at the University of Missouri on Thursday to introduce the program.
"The Olympic Games is not the Olympic Games for the host country. We will try to host the games as a party for the whole world," Sun said. "To be able to provide quality news content to the media, we think it is good to have a collaboration with schools in terms of Olympic volunteers."
The Olympic News Service acts as a press agency for the games, providing news about events, athlete biographies and other information about the Olympics. International media rely on it for quotes, results and event schedules.
In the past, organizers have relied on English-speaking volunteers from their own countries. But Sun said that wasn't really an option for Beijing.
"China is not an English-speaking country. It is difficult for us to find the very qualified students," Sun said. "The second thing is the quality of service we would like to ensure. At the Athens Olympic Games ... there were some complaints from the international media."
To avoid similar problems in Beijing, the International Olympic Committee suggested that BOCOG consider recruiting volunteers from English-speaking countries. Because so many Chinese universities already had exchange programs with U.S. schools, Sun said it was a natural fit.
BOCOG is pairing with 13 universities, five of which are in the United States. In addition to Missouri, Iowa, Ithaca College, Emerson College and North Carolina are participating in the program.
The schools will select the students and train them so they're familiar with the jobs they might be doing and the various Olympic sports. The students will go to Beijing about a month before the Aug. 8 start of the games to do their onsite training.
Six Beijing universities will house the students and provide other support, including cultural classes. Missouri students will stay at Renmin University of China.
"Why should not students of what we think is the finest school of journalism be involved in these events that will truly shape the world?" said Brady Deaton, Missouri's chancellor.
"The cultural experience is the most fundamental issue here, because that's what promotes an enhanced view of the global society we live in," Deaton said. "It really does go beyond the average study abroad program."
While BOCOG will tell the universities what skills it needs from the volunteers, it is up to each university to pick its students and create a training curriculum. Missouri will choose 50 journalism students using the same process it has for other study abroad programs, which includes an interview with a panel of faculty members and university staff.
Undergraduate and graduate journalism students are eligible, and it's estimated the trip will cost about $3,000 per person.
If early interest is any indication, Missouri officials won't have any trouble getting volunteers. One student who couldn't be on campus Thursday even sent Sun an e-mail expressing her interest in the program.
"We're talking about the Olympics," Deaton said. "Man, I would have done this if I were in college."
While BOCOG officials hope the student volunteers will help make the games a success, they're also hoping the program will leave a legacy that lasts long after the Olympic flame goes out.
"We think the Olympics will promote an exchange between Chinese universities and foreign universities," Sun said. "So I think it's a good collaboration for the Olympic committee and the universities."
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