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BERKELEY — The University of California, Berkeley, said Thursday it has raised $1.44 billion, beating the target for its eight-year fund-raising campaign. 

The campaign, which was launched under Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien in 1993 and ended in December, had a goal of raising $1.1 billion. 

Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl said the amount raised by the university sets a record for the highest dollar amount ever raised by a public university. 

The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, held the previous record by raising $1.41 billion in a campaign that ended in 1997. The University of California, Los Angeles, aims to raise $1.6 billion by 2002. 

“We compete at the highest intellectual levels in teaching and research,” said Donald McQuade, UC Berkeley’s vice chancellor for university relations.  

“We also need to marshal the same kind of private support to recruit and retain the best faculty and students in the world.” 

Of the $1.44 billion, $747.2 million will go toward faculty research and school projects, including university museums and performances. 

About $181.5 million will be spent on 68 faculty chairs, 50 professorships and 501 graduate fellowships. 

Some $160.7 million will fund research to benefit the sciences and engineering. Other major objectives include undergraduate scholarships, a fund to be used at the chancellor’s discretion, library collections and the new Walter A. Haas Jr. Pavilion sports complex. 

The funds raised came from more than 500,000 gifts from UC Berkeley alumni and friends, as well as from corporations and foundations.