Trips to China cost Galway Mayo Institute of Technology more than €18,500 last year.
Seven staff of GMIT travelled to China on three separate trips in 2016, and there was one trip to Hong Kong.
A chunk of the money was spent by three staff who travelled to promote GMIT at education trade exhibitions, in the hope of attracting Chinese students to come to study at campuses in Galway and Mayo.
Four lecturers travelled at a far lesser expense to give lectures to students taking the GMIT programmes in Nanchang in China.
The total cost of the Chinese trips was €18,535, according to expenses claims forms released to Galway City Tribune under Freedom of Information.
This included €8,659 for travel and subsistence claims; and the total cost of flights was an additional €9,876.
Two members of staff spent a fortnight in China from October 18 to 31 last year, incurring expenses of €2,635 and €2,658.75 respectively, which did not include flights.
They attended the China Ireland Education Summit, as well as visiting Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, to meet with new potential partners and to discuss potential collaborations.
One member of staff at GMIT spent five days in Hong Kong last July, attending an “international education exhibition”.
Some €983.19 was claimed in expenses, not including flights. An estimate of €2,200 for ‘conference fees’ was included in the travel and subsistence prior authorisation form, which is submitted prior to travel.
Four staff members from the Galway college travelled to Nanchang in China, and gave lectures at the local college, which has links with GMIT.
The expenses incurred as a result of those trips in May and November included: €983.19, €627.88, €627.88, €340.08, and €786.06, all excluding flight costs.
GMIT, following a separate FOI request, provided details of the cost of flights for the above trips, which was paid by the college in addition to the travel and subsistence.
The flights for each trip was as follows: Beijing (€1,375), Hong Kong (€1,583), Nanchang (€1,090), Nanchang (€1,015), Beijing and Shanghai (€1,236), Nanchang (€1,278), Nanchang (€1,015) and Beijing (€1,284).
In a statement, GMIT declined to say whether its relationship with the university in Nanchang is continuing this year.
“Due to the confidential nature of all our agreements with partner universities we cannot divulge particulars in relation to any one partnership, albeit we can confirm that GMIT has had a longstanding partnership with Nanchang University in the Peoples Republic of China. This agreement was supported inter alia, by a number of GMIT academic and administration staff visits in recent years.
“GMIT is always eager to build new strategic partnerships while maintaining relations with existing partners. During a senior ministerial-led education mission to China in October 2016, two new partnerships were formed with Wuhan University and Hubei University for Nationalities. All agreements are signed to solidify our internationalisation objectives and to support GMIT’s Strategic Plan,” it said.
In relation to the trips to China generally, the college added: “GMIT evaluates its international partnerships over an extended period of time as opposed to in-depth analysis of specific individual visits. Experience in managing international collaborations teaches that you cannot evaluate trips in isolation. Developing and managing partnerships in Asia is a slow and complex process.
“Consequently, we work very closely with Education in Ireland and other in-market advisers to ensure we maximise our resources in a way that gives us the best chances of a return on our investment.”
GMIT had a deficit of about €2 million in 2015.
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