MANKATO — Minnesota State University, Mankato city and airport officials say their trip to China was a raging success that reached far beyond the original scope of the mission.

MSU President Richard Davenport and a contingent of city and business leaders returned Monday from China after spending a week there meeting with government, business and university leaders.

Originally, the main goal of the trip was to shore up an agreement to train Chinese pilots at the Mankato airport through MSU’s aviation program. Davenport said he expects the first Chinese pilots to be in Mankato in about a year.

When they come they’ll primarily be trained to fly helicopters because of the Chinese government’s new commitment to safety for its citizens.

Driven by the massive loss of life in the wake of earthquakes that struck rural parts of China, the government has devised a plan to create a series of emergency rescue

centers, each with about 20 helicopters, with about two or three pilots per helicopter. The rescue centers will also have a modern, fully staffed hospital. China estimates it will need 12,000 pilots for this.

They’re hoping, ultimately, to train roughly 150 of them per year at MSU.

But the trip wasn’t limited to aviation. While there, the group also met with Renmin University, which is reportedly China’s third-ranked higher education institution.

This meeting resulted in a preliminary agreement to put together an exchange program which, if all goes well, could result in student exchanges by next summer. Students from Minnesota will be able to study in any program at the university, which operates in English.

The group also met with a group from a business called Insights Education International, which facilitates student exchanges. That group is lead by a Frank Mok, a graduate of MSU. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the Minnesota delegation and Insights to work together on exchange programs.

Talks about the pilot need, Davenport said, led the group to learn more about the reasons China was developing the Emergency Rescue Centers. From that, they discovered the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is poised to help in many ways as China figures how to staff its airports and hospitals.

MnSCU, Davenport said, has experts in emergency training that could be valuable to the Chinese government as they carry out their Emergency Rescue Center plans.

“China was an outstanding experience for all of us,” Davenport said. “Overall, it exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

Davenport said Friday that Changdong Xu, who invited the delegation to China, told him there would be a five-year window where institutions can have a major impact on China’s future.

As for aviation, curriculum is being prepared right now to teach helicopter training. Adjunct instructors proficient in helicopter flight will probably be added to the program. And if the number of pilots predicted for the program actually show up, MSU may need to add faculty to the program.

Aviation assistant professor Tom Peterson said he spoke with government officials in China about the training and they said they hoped training could start soon.

“They’re very concerned about when they can get their pilots,” Peterson said. “They’ve been using a lot of foreign pilots. Now they want their own.”

Added Mankato businessman Curt Fisher, “China is investing in its infrastructure, and is poised for great growth in the future.”

On a somewhat unrelated note, the group was asked about Mankato Mayor John Brady’s presence and whether it affected the trip.

Brady was arrested and cited for drunken driving on his way to catch a flight to China. He missed his original flight but caught another one in time, Davenport said, to not miss any of the meetings the group had set up with government and business leaders in China.

“He performed admirably,” Davenport said.