Wealthy and influential alumni offer their alma mater(s) a variety of significant commercial and academic opportunities. These include major private donations, corporate partnerships/donations and networking opportunities for students and recent alumni, among others. In an increasingly competitive education market, institutions need to make the most of their ultra wealthy (with a net worth of $30m+) and senior executive alumni — the groups of focus for this report.

Harvard University stands in a league of its own. Its estimated 17,660 ultra wealthy alumni account for a startling 5% of the global ultra wealthy population, while the almost 3,900 alumni who are senior executives at listed companies in the US represent 5.9% of this total population.

Harvard also ranks first – ahead of INSEAD and Oxford – for the number of alumni working as senior executives of listed companies across the Global 19 (non-US) major indices. The University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University also feature prominently among these US and global rankings.