The richest university in the world? Harvard more than ever

Harvard University has seen its endowments increase 27% in one year, according to its annual financial report released Thursday, making it, more than ever, the richest university in the world.

On a large scale in American higher education, the Reserve Fund is formed and supplied mostly through private donations. Many of these donations (82%) are subject to restrictions directed towards specific disciplines or projects.

Only about 5 to 5.5% of the fund’s reserves are used each year to fund the operation of Harvard University, located in Cambridge (Massachusetts), or $2 billion in 2020/21.

Already the highest in the world, the Reserve Fund increased by 27%, reaching $53.2 billion at the end of June, which corresponds to the end of the fiscal year, or equivalent to the reserves of the South African Central Bank (SARB). or the Netherlands.

Taking advantage of the rude health of financial markets, Harvard posted a return of 33.6% of its assets in one year.

In the year 2020/21, Harvard University also received $465 million in donations to the Reserve Fund.

According to the order of the magazine US newsHarvard University was already clearly ahead of Yale University last year in the ranking of the largest reserve funds, reaching 41.9 billion dollars against 31.1 billion dollars.