If successful, it will mean the university will increase its cash reserves by around 20 per cent, with figures from 2012 suggesting that the institution has an endowment of around $30 billion (?19 billion).

It would also represent the biggest fundraising push in higher education history, the university believes, and be used to ensure the Ivy League institution maintains its ¡°leadership role in the rapidly shifting landscape of higher education¡±.

The university has already raised $2.8 billion (?1.75 billion) from more than 90,000 alumni and friends during the campaign¡¯s ¡°pre-launch¡± phase.

¡°We launch The Harvard Campaign at a moment when higher education is being challenged to reinvent itself, and we embrace this opportunity for a campaign that aims to do more than merely extend or reinforce long-standing strength and eminence,¡± said Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard and Lincoln professor of history.

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Some 45 per cent of the money raised will be used to support teaching and research, while 25 per cent will fund financial aid and the ¡°student experience¡±. Twenty per cent will be spent on ¡°capital improvements¡±, with the remaining 10 per cent earmarked for ¡°flexible funding to foster collaborations and initiatives¡±.

¡°Knowledge has never been more important to the future of individuals and societies,¡± Professor Faust continued. ¡°The world¡¯s challenges have never been more pressing, more complex, or more shared.

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¡°With the support of our extraordinarily loyal and generous university community, we will meet these challenges, and in doing so, we will reaffirm what makes Harvard - and universities in general - such essential and irreplaceable contributors to the pursuit of knowledge and the welfare of the world.¡±

chris.parr@tsleducation.com