Integrated education campaigners took annual trips to eastern Europe to discuss ethnic and religious differences, with all costs met by a third party.
The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) visited Macedonia three years in a row and also took a trip to Dubai.
Unlike the former education boards, which incurred overseas travel costs of more than £200,000 in four years, NICIE did not spend one penny of its own budget.
NICIE has a close working relationship with colleagues in the Nansen Dialogue Centre in Skopje. Staff have visited the country for the last three years and have also received a reciprocal visit.
Macedonia is a country still emerging from conflict where, as well as ethnic and religious differences, there are also three recognised languages.
NICIE chief executive Noreen Campbell said the visits were worthwhile and confirmed that costs were met by a third party.
"We could not afford to pay travel costs ourselves nor would we get approval to use our core budget to do so. Yet the benefits of such travel in promoting the NI image is great," she said.
Meanwhile, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) and Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta had no travel outside the UK and Ireland between 2011 and this year.
