This report contains the findings of the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Survey of Scientific and Engineering Expenditures at Universities and Colleges, FY 1981. The survey was mailed to 563 universities and colleges, including all institutions that granted a graduate science or engineering (S/E) degree, as well as to academic institutions with $50,000 or more in separately budgeted research and development (R&D) expenditures. Areas considered in the report include sources of R&D support, expenditures related to character of work and S/E fields, largest R&D performers, and research equipment expenditures. Selected findings indicate that: separately budgeted R&D expenditures totaled $6.8 billion, a 12 percent increase in current dollars over 1980 levels; in the context of national research effort, excluding national expenditures for development, academic instititutions performed 27 percent of the U.S. total in 1981, up slightly from their 25 percent share in 1974; Federal agencies continued to sponsor two-thirds ($4.5 billion) of academic R&D activities; basic research performance by universities/colleges totaled $4.6 billion, a 3 percent real increase over 1980 levels; and the most rapid current-dollar growth in major S/E disciplines occurred in mathematical/computer sciences, psychology, and the physical sciences. The life sciences accounted for more than one-half of total R&D expenditures. (JN)