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.

Access to a large network of professional connections can be seen as a return on investment for graduates.

The average senior executive alum of a top 20 US university has accumulated 1,280 direct professional connections to senior decision-makers. Graduates of these universities will be able to tap into these highly valuable networks over the course of their careers. Harvard alumni lead with an average 1,537 direct professional connections.

INSEAD’s wealthy and influential alumni are younger and slightly more female than those of Oxford and Harvard.

Oxford’s senior executive alumni have the highest number of professional connections, while Harvard’s ultra wealthy alumni have a particularly high share of self-created fortunes. While alumni of three of the world’s most prestigious learning institutions share similarities, the unique characteristics of each university’s set of alumni shine through.

Of the non-US universities, Cambridge, INSEAD, Oxford and the National University of Singapore lead the way. The University of Cambridge ranks first for ultra wealthy alumni, with an estimated 4,149 such individuals, followed by the National University of Singapore (3,653) and the University of Oxford (3,356).

When it comes to senior executives at companies listed on the Global 19 major indices, INSEAD and Oxford alumni rank highly, along with graduates of the London School of Economics.

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.

The specialisms and strengths of particular universities are clear to see.

Among the US and non-US universities respectively, the California Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad have the highest share of ultra wealthy alumni with self-created fortunes (at 91.7% and 96.2%), a nod to their focus on enterprise.

The University of Melbourne has the highest proportion of female senior executive alumni (40.2%) of the Global 19 major indices, while University of Mumbai senior executive alumni are the fastest to land their first C-suite or board role, which they achieve in 14.9 years.