BU outraised all but 2 other Massachusetts universities last year, all but 5 in New England, and placed 54th among more than 1,000 universities nationally, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports this month.

The University raised $116.6 million in fiscal year 2013, the official kickoff of the $1 billion Campaign for BU, the school’s the first comprehensive fundraising effort. Among the 40 Bay State colleges and universities reporting, only Harvard and MIT raised more. Throughout New England, only those two and Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth received a greater dollar value of gifts than BU.

Nationally, BU was one of just 70 schools that hit or broke the nine-figure mark, says Scott Nichols, senior vice president for development and alumni relations. Among private universities nationally, BU’s total fundraising ranked 24th, he says.

As of the end of January, with three-and-a-half years remaining in the Campaign for BU, the University had raised more than $620 million toward the Campaign’s goal and has “exceeded projected expectations,” Nichols says. “As opposed to most mega-campaigns, we continue to gain momentum and have not experienced the normal slowdown most campaigns experience by this stage.”

Any gifts made to BU during the life of the Campaign are credited to it.

Philanthropy to American universities cratered during the Great Recession, but the 2013 numbers show that “record giving to higher education is back,” the Chronicle reports.