Harvard, the world’s wealthiest university, said that its endowment lost 22 per cent, or $8bn, in the first four months of the fiscal year, underscoring how higher education has been hard hit by the global financial crisis.

The decline brings the school’s endowment from $36.9bn on June 30 to $28.7bn (€22.5bn, £19.3bn) by the end of October.