Chico >> A trip to China, Japan and Taiwan put Chico State University President Paul Zingg at the top the list of California State University presidents in a newspaper study of travel costs. But according to a university spokesman, it was a fruitful journey.

In a recent probe of California State University presidents’ travel expenditures by the Los Angeles Daily News, Zingg was listed as spending the most for a single trip — $11,658.99 — and listed as third highest for spending on cumulative airfare during 2013 and 2014 at $40,022.71.

That included $3,500 billed for non-vacation days during a May 2014 tour he led to Edinburgh, Scotland that included golf at the famed St. Andrews course.

The Asian trip Oct. 18-30 was to build on educational relationships, said Chico State spokesman Joe Wills. Other airfare charges were for medical reasons. Zingg was not available for comment because he is on leave from heart surgery.

“He was there to both strengthen a bilateral partnership with universities and institutions in those countries and establish them,” Wills said.

The trip resulted in Zingg signing several agreements with universities that outlined the relationship Chico State would have with those schools and particular types of programs.

“China is a tremendous market for higher education,” Wills said. “They’re building their system and also have a lot of students to have opportunities here.”

The trip involved both new and existing partnerships in all three countries and included visits to campuses where Zingg met university presidents.

Wills said agreements were made in all three countries. One was with Shinshu University in Japan. Since the trip, 23 students have enrolled in 2014 and 2015 in the American Language and Culture Institute at Chico State.

An agreement was also made with Shaanxi University in China, and Chico State is currently working on an agreement with Zhejiang University City College, which is a new prospect in a region where Chico State doesn’t have any bilateral relationships with universities.

Also, Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan is cementing its relationship with Chico, having sent 25 students to Chico State in the summer of 2013, Wills said. Thirty-three Chung Yuan Christian University students have enrolled at Chico State since Zingg’s trip.

Other memorandums of understanding were reached with additional schools.

Wills said the trip was “very constructive and productive” not only because of the agreements that were signed, but in having further communications with those schools and students traveling to Chico to study. He said students here are also looking for opportunities to study in Asia, he said.

Another benefit he mentioned was that students from China, Taiwan and Japan pay higher tuition.

“There’s great value in having international students for what they bring culturally and intellectually,” Wills said. “They’re also paying tuition at a level that is helpful to the university financially.”

Wills also explained Zingg’s airfare expenditure of $17,571.57 during 2013-14. He said Zingg traveled business class because of prior neck surgeries. A doctor had advised Zingg to travel where there is more room. One of the surgeries was in 2013 and Zingg has a letter from his physician on file, Wills said.

For the May 2014 tour Zingg led of Edinburgh, the University Foundation paid nearly $3,500 for the trip to “the home of golf,” saying on travel forms the purpose was “vacation and cultivation of university friends, visiting and interviewing colleagues for a new book project.”

Zingg has written books about sports, including golf in the United Kingdom. He filed reimbursement for non-vacation days on the trip.

Wills said the 12-day trip was similar to past excursions, which included top donors.

“I would say that the president’s relationships with donors are often at a high level, and the presidents of the (California State University system) are often really important to building high-level relationships with people,” Wills said. “What institutions call ‘major prospects,’ we think of them as friends and supporters of the institution, and the president is often the key person to build relationships.”

The project he worked on in Scotland, which is still in progress, focuses on the sporting culture of that country in comparison to Ireland and the United States.

Contact reporter Barbara Arrigoni at 896-7767. Los Angeles News Group reporter Josh Dulaney contributed to this story.