Harvard University, which last week introduced the largest capital campaign in the history of higher education, gained 11.3 percent on investments in the year through June, trailing Yale University’s 12.5 percent return.
Harvard, the world’s wealthiest school, said its endowment grew to $32.7 billion, beating benchmarks and generating an additional $600 million largely from U.S. and foreign public equities and hedge funds. The university, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said it gained on average 9.4 percent annually over 10 years even after a record 27 percent loss in 2009.
