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A website for exchanging lecture notes and transcripts of lectures set up by two economics students at La Sapienza University in Rome now has 75,000 registered members and 1 million "contacts" a month.

University.it has obtained backing from Italian publisher De Agostini. It has a full-time staff of ten and three part-time.

"A student can find everything that can help in preparing exams," said founder David De Guz. "A search engine, with a keyword, calls up all the relevant material. For every document that a registered student contributes, he or she can download three documents. Those who contribute nothing can consult them online without downloading."

There are plans to supplement University.it's income with e-commerce tailored to the needs of students. University.it is also eager to establish ties with similar enterprises abroad.