The University's return on its endowment increased by more than 24 percent last fiscal year, exceeding its pre-recession levels. The current size of the endowment is about $5.3 billion, according to the Investment Management Company's annual report released last June.
The University has consistently performed better than its peer institutions throughout the last five years, and last year's spike surpassed the average increase experienced at other universities across the nation, according to preliminary data from a report to be released in January by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and institutional investment firm Commonfund. Universities saw a 19.8 percent return on investments, according to a statement released by NACUBO.
The University's increase in return "compares very favorably. It's in the top quartile of other universities, and it's about 2 percent above what our benchmark was for the year," said Lawrence Kochard, chief executive and investment officer of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company.
The University prefers to make investments while considering future return on investments, Kochard said.
"Over the last decade, we've generated returns of 9.2 percent per year, which again, stack up very favorably compared to our peers," Kochard said. "That was 3 percent more than our benchmark, especially in a very difficult time."
The University's success reflects a broader trend in institutions across the country. Both large, well-funded institutions as well as institutions with smaller endowments experienced a growth in their investments, according to the study.
Universities with assets exceeding $1 billion returned an average of 20.2 percent, while institutions with assets below $25 million returned an average of 19.1 percent.
This marks an unusual departure from past trends, which have shown greater gains for wealthier institutions.
"It appears that FY2010 will go down as somewhat of an anomaly," John D. Walda, NACUBO president and chief executive and John S. Griswold, executive director for the Commonfund Institute, said in a joint statement. "It is unusual to see smaller institutions outperforming larger ones, as happened in FY2009 and FY2010."
It remains to be seen if this pattern will continue in future years, Walda said.
This article was updated to reflect the size of the endowment.
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