BANGOR (AP) – University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal hopes to use relationships built during a weeklong trip to France to create partnerships benefiting students and faculty.

Westphal spent the week before the election in France, where he discussed the idea of establishing graduate student exchange programs at the University of Paris and the Institute of Political Science.

The chancellor’s academic mission included visits to the U.S. Embassy and to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which works on education issues from a global perspective.

“I’m really trying to lift the profile of Maine so the OECD can see that the interesting things going on in the U.S. are going on in Maine,” he said.

Westphal also met with business leaders in Paris to discuss the possibility of establishing internships for UMS students.

The chancellor, who speaks some French, was accompanied by Jean Fried, a visiting professor at the University of Maine who hails from Universite Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France.

It was Westphal’s second mission aboard. He also accompanied Gov. John Baldacci on the trade mission to Ireland and did similar networking with academic officials, said John Diamond, UMS spokesman.

Westphal said he chose to go to Paris because of the state’s connection with France and French Canada, and that he hoped students would show interest in participating in a future exchange program.

The chancellor said he would speak to state Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and to UMS faculty and students about the next step in establishing a relationship with France.

“This was just a start – something to build on,” he said.

Diamond said the chancellor had no qualms about taking a trip to France at the same time the seven universities were being asked to find ways to cut their budgets.

The spokesman said he felt that there would be a payoff down the road for the trip, which he said cost only $1,249.

“He has been very upfront about using whatever connections he can to bring new opportunities to the university that would not only have academic benefits for the university but would also broaden the financial base,” Diamond said.