College endowments rode a surging stock market to a nearly 12-percent collective gain in value last year, partially making up for 2009’s historic losses, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.

The 865 institutions surveyed by the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the Commonfund Institute averaged 8 percent endowment growth for fiscal year 2010, compared with a 23-percent loss the previous year. Investments gained in all asset categories except real estate.

The biggest gainers included Syracuse University at 29 percent and Grinnell College, 18 percent. The two biggest university endowments, at Harvard and Yale, grew by 5.4 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

Most endowments remain below their 2007 levels, and Commonfund and the business-officers group said the funds are not likely to fully rebound in 2011 or 2012 even if the stock market continues to rise.