As of March 7, a total of 370,372 people had applied to become Games-time volunteers for the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, an official with the Volunteer Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) said on Thursday.

The applicants include 184,312 from Beijing's 80 universities, another 78,199 from the city's 18 districts and counties, in addition to 107,861 from other provinces and municipalities outside Beijing, the official said.

More than 80 percent of the applicants were born between 1981 and 1990 and half the applicants have had a volunteer experience. Over 100 Beijing applicants have a doctor's degree.

According to the timetable of the volunteer program, the recruitment of Games-time volunteers from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas will be launched in late March.

The Beijing Olympic Games need about 70,000 Games-time volunteers and the Beijing Paralympic Games another 30,000. They will be working directly for the Games. Applicants who fail to be selected as Games-time volunteers are encouraged to join other volunteer projects.