Harvard experienced an 11 percent investment return on its endowment this past year, bringing its total to $27.4 billion, several news sources reported Thursday.
This news comes in the wake of a previous year loss of 27.3 percent in value. Harvard is among the first universities to report its endowment returns for the fiscal year ending June 30, according to the New York Times. Harvard's endowment stands as the largest among U.S. universities.
It is unclear if this positive return is a trend for major universities or case-specific, according to Rae Goldsmith, vice president for advancement resources at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education
"We are hearing similar encouraging signs from other institutions," Goldsmith said. But she added, "There's still a lot of uncertainty about the economy, so while we're encouraged, we still need to take a ‘wait and see' attitude."
Brown has not yet released its returns for the past fiscal year. For the year ending June 30, 2009, Brown's endowment dropped 26.6 percent in value to $2.038 billion, The Herald reported at the time.
Information about the current state of Brown's endowment will be released when the return results are reported, Vice President for Public Affairs and University Relations Marisa Quinn wrote in an e-mail to The Herald, but she declined to comment on Harvard's results.
Harvard's endowment increase comes after a year of restructuring to increase the liquidity of its portfolio among other adjustments, Harvard Management Company CEO Jane Mandillo told the Times. The increase was smaller than stock market averages over the fiscal year, reported the Times, but more than what Harvard's standard measures predicted.
The question remains as to the significance of Harvard's gains in a larger national context.
"We'll be seeing a little bit more concrete evidence of what's happening when the National Association of College and University Business Officers does its annual study towards the beginning of next year," Goldsmith said.
