Students pass by the construction site for the new KU School of Business, Friday, Dec. 12. The new 5.7 million dollar facility for the Kansas University School of Business is set to open fall 2016. The structure will be four stories with 155,000 square feet. It is located on the east side of Naismith Drive, across from Allen Fieldhouse at the south entrance of campus.

With the historic gift announced last week, Kansas University Endowment exceeded its Far Above fundraising campaign goal of $1.2 billion two years ahead of schedule.

But the largest and longest-running campaign ever conducted on behalf of KU will not end with that, leaders say.

Instead, KU Endowment will refocus the remaining two years of the eight-year drive primarily on people, which campaign chairman Kurt Watson called KU’s best resource.

In the increasingly competitive world of higher education, attracting the brightest students and best professors is critical, Watson said. He said while facilities and other needs remain, money for student scholarships and faculty fellowships or professorships would be the priority.

“There is no question in anyone’s mind that public funding for universities across the country is on a downward spiral,” Watson said. “If we’re going to not only keep KU at its current, very high level but raise the level of the university, it’s going to have to come through private philanthropy.”

Watson said Far Above has attracted several large, “spectacular” gifts, most notably the $58 million gift from the estate of Madison “Al” and Lila Self announced on Tuesday, the largest gift from an individual in KU history. However, Watson said, the campaign also has been driven by a group of other dedicated donors giving what they can.

Far Above launched in 2008 with an initial goal of raising $1 billion, said Jerome Davies, KU Endowment senior vice president for development. By the time KU Endowment held its public kickoff for the campaign in 2012, that goal had been raised to $1.2 billion.

The Selfs’ gift brings the total raised so far to $1.218 billion, he said.

The previous campaign, KU First, had a goal of $500 million and raised $653 million over six and a half years, Davies said.

Davies said several new signature areas have emerged since the beginning of the Far Above drive, such as the Cambridge North Tower building project at KU Hospital.

A number of buildings underway now on the Lawrence campus also have Far Above to thank, Watson said. Among them are construction of the new business school, engineering complex and Allen Fieldhouse project expected to house James Naismith’s original rules of basketball.

Less obvious to a passer-by are programs like the Selfs’ scholarships for engineering students.

Those are an example of efforts for which Far Above seeks more donations.

“The quality of the students that are part of all those Self scholarships is just outstanding,” Watson said, adding that good students attract good faculty and vise versa. “They’re inextricably intertwined, and the focus needs to be both on students and faculty to keep KU at this high level.”