The only area where Harvard failed to meet its benchmark was emerging markets, the accounting category including equities from developing countries.

According to Meyer, the modest shortfall of 1.2 percent can be attributed to misjudgments HMC made when purchasing shares in closed end funds, which are similar to mutual funds but sell at a discounted price.

"Discounts at the beginning were 22 percent, which we thought was attractive, but they increased to 34 percent and we didn't expect that, which really penalized our performance," he said.

Harvard matched but did not exceed its benchmark in the category of inflation-indexed bonds--bonds issued by the government that guarantee a rate of return above inflation. Meyer said that while HMC actively trades in the other accounting categories in an attempt to exceed their benchmark, it does not do so in this area.

In the report to University officials and alumni, Meyer wrote that over the long term, the University would like to exceed its overall benchmark by 1.5 percentage points per year, much less than the 13.6 percent it accumulated this year. Over the last five years, the University has exceeded its benchmarks by an average of 3.8 percent of the margin.