Students at prestigious universities in China will soon be able to tune in live to classes taught at Cal State Long Beach, opening a new era in international online education at the school.

Beginning March 26, CSULB will offer a pilot course in emergency services administration to students at six Chinese universities who will hear lectures live over the Internet and ask and answer questions in real time, using advanced software.

The university is partnering with Coastline Community College, in Fountain Valley, and Online University of America, based in Orange, to offer the course to about 35 Chinese government officials who are interested in learning how to prepare for potential emergencies at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

"Cal State Long Beach has a good reputation among Chinese universities and Chinese students,' said Paul Bott, professor occupational studies at CSULB who helped create the partnership.

The Chinese universities participating include Beijing University, which Bott calls the country's equivalent to Harvard, and Tsinghua University in Beijing, which Bott compares to MIT.

Students will be at their computers at 10 a.m. in China as a CSULB professor teaches at 6 p.m. here. Students will hear and see the instructor speaking in the upper left-hand corner of their computer screens. The course will be in English.

On the right side of the screen will be visual materials the teacher is discussing. Students can ask or answer on the bottom portion of their monitors by typing on their keyboards.

Professors will be able to ask students' questions during lectures and then see the answers from individual students or the class as a whole.

That arrangement is different from regular online courses, which don't take place live. In those courses, students can access course materials at any time over the web and e-mail questions and assignments to professors.

If the pilot program goes well, CSULB hopes to offer other courses, including those in business, teacher preparation, health care administration, engineering management and general education.

Once it gets approval from accrediting agencies, the partnership plans to begin offering full- degree programs in China using the technology.