by Michael T. Gibbons[1]

Funding of higher education research and development increased across all funding sources in FY 2018, marking the third straight year of steady growth. Total R&D expenditures increased $4.1 billion (5.5%) from FY 2017, reaching $79.4 billion (table 1). Federal funding of R&D has increased in both current and constant dollars for three straight years, according to data from the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey. When adjusted for inflation, the three-year (FYs 2015–18) growth is 9.6% for total R&D and 5.3% for federally funded R&D (figure 1).

TABLE 1. Higher education R&D expenditures, by source of funds: FYs 2011–18
(Millions of current dollars)
Fiscal
year
All R&D
expenditures
Source of funds
Federal
government
State and
local government
Institution
funds
Business Nonprofit
organizations
All other
sources

NOTES: Because of rounding, detail may not add to total. Includes all institutions surveyed in the fiscal years shown.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

Table 1 Source Data: Excel file

2011 65,274 40,769 3,851 12,580 3,183 3,854 1,038
2012 65,873 40,217 3,744 13,625 3,279 4,037 970
2013 67,145 39,510 3,706 14,974 3,515 3,903 1,537
2014 67,351 38,033 3,916 15,781 3,733 3,977 1,911
2015 68,695 37,913 3,864 16,638 4,008 4,235 2,037
2016 71,894 38,847 4,034 17,961 4,216 4,629 2,207
2017 75,328 40,308 4,172 19,008 4,429 5,134 2,278
2018 79,436 42,018 4,321 20,438 4,724 5,452 2,483
FIGURE 1. Higher education R&D expenditures, by source of funds: FYs 1972–2018
FIGURE 1. Higher education R&D expenditures, by source of funds: FYs 1972–2018

NOTES: Because of rounding, detail may not add to total. Includes all institutions surveyed in the fiscal years shown. Prior to FY 2003, totals did not include R&D expenditures in non-science and engineering fields.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

Figure 1 Source Data: Excel file

The HERD Survey is sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF). For more information on the survey, see “Data Sources, Limitations, and Availability.”

R&D Expenditures, by Source of Funding

Higher education R&D funded from federal government sources and from state and local government sources each increased about 4% in current dollars between FY 2017 and FY 2018 and by 11% and 12%, respectively, since FY 2015. Business funding grew 18% in the past three years. R&D funding from nonprofit organizations (29%), institutions’ own sources (23%), and all other sources (22%) had the largest percentage increases since FY 2015.[2]

The federal government funded 53% of higher education R&D in FY 2018, a percentage that has declined gradually since reaching 62% in FY 2011.[3] In current dollars, federal funding increased by $1.2 billion from FY 2011 to FY 2018, whereas institutions’ own funding rose by $7.9 billion. Three other funding sectors—nonprofit organizations ($1.6 billion), businesses ($1.5 billion), and all other sources ($1.4 billion)—grew more than federal sources over the same period (table 1).

Federal funding of higher education R&D expenditures in FY 2018 was $42.0 billion, an increase of $1.7 billion from FY 2017. The largest federal source was the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—which includes the National Institutes of Health—at $22.9 billion, up $1.3 billion from FY 2017 (table 2). HHS accounted for 55% of FY 2018 federal funding and 76% of the increase in overall federal funding from FY 2017 to FY 2018. The Department of Defense ($265 million increase), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ($112 million increase), and the National Science Foundation ($67 million increase) together accounted for most of the remaining federally funded expenditure increases. R&D expenditures funded by the Department of Energy increased by $5 million from FY 2017, while those funded by the Department of Agriculture declined 3.1% or $38 million.

TABLE 2. Higher education R&D expenditures, by federal agency: FYs 2011–18
(Millions of current dollars)
Source of funds 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 % change 2017–18

DOD = Department of Defense; DOE = Department of Energy; HHS = Department of Health and Human Services; NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration; NSF = National Science Foundation; USDA = Department of Agriculture.

NOTES: This table includes only institutions reporting $1 million or more in total R&D expenditures in FY 2017. Institutions reporting less than $1 million in total R&D expenditures in FY 2017 completed a shorter version of the survey form in FY 2018 that did not include this question.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

Table 2 Source Data: Excel file

All R&D expenditures 65,274 65,729 67,013 67,199 68,551 71,751 75,184 79,286 5.5
From federal sources 40,769 40,142 39,446 37,962 37,849 38,778 40,237 41,945 4.2
DOD 4,814 4,908 5,023 4,926 5,089 5,313 5,636 5,901 4.7
DOE 1,866 1,955 1,876 1,806 1,710 1,771 1,815 1,820 0.3
HHS 22,995 21,916 21,211 20,301 19,999 20,660 21,625 22,922 6.0
NASA 1,423 1,331 1,332 1,329 1,418 1,492 1,405 1,517 8.0
NSF 5,140 5,276 5,393 5,125 5,118 5,114 5,207 5,274 1.3
USDA 1,006 1,094 1,092 1,062 1,119 1,209 1,224 1,186 -3.1
All other 3,524 3,663 3,519 3,413 3,396 3,221 3,324 3,326 0.1

R&D expenditures funded by universities’ own sources reached $20.4 billion in FY 2018. This amount accounted for 26% of total higher education R&D and 55% of total nonfederal funding. Both percentages are virtually unchanged since FY 2016 and remain the largest since the advent of the survey. Almost two-thirds of institutional spending ($13.3 billion) came from direct funding of R&D activities through the universities’ own research accounts (figure 2). Unrecovered indirect costs (the amount of indirect costs that are not reimbursed to the institution for externally funded R&D) were $5.5 billion in FY 2018, and cost-sharing commitments were $1.6 billion. All these totals increased from FY 2017, resulting in a 7.5% growth in overall institutional support. Part of this increase and similar increases in recent years is attributable to universities’ efforts to identify R&D expenditures that were not previously captured in their accounting systems.

FIGURE 2. Institutionally funded R&D expenditures, by source: FYs 2011–18
FIGURE 2. Institutionally funded R&D expenditures, by source: FYs 2011–18

NOTE: Includes all institutions surveyed in the fiscal years shown.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

Figure 2 Source Data: Excel file

Foreign sources of R&D funding are also collected in the HERD survey. Around $1.3 billion in foreign funds supported R&D at higher education institutions in FY 2018. These stemmed from the following foreign sources:

R&D Expenditures, by Field

R&D expenditures in science increased $3.3 billion (5.6%) from FY 2017, reaching $62.3 billion. Engineering R&D expenditures ($12.4 billion) increased 3.8% and non-science and engineering ($4.6 billion) increased 7.5% (table 3). Two-thirds of the overall growth in R&D expenditures for FY 2018 stemmed from increases in the life sciences subfields of biological and biomedical sciences (up $819 million to $14.6 billion) and health sciences (up $1.9 billion to $25.9 billion). A large portion of this R&D is conducted by medical schools ($27.9 billion) and through clinical trials ($3.0 billion).[4] The HHS funding increases noted previously were a large contributor to the life sciences R&D growth.

TABLE 3. Higher education R&D expenditures, by R&D field: FYs 2017–18
(Thousands of current dollars)
Field 2017 2018 % change 2017–18

nec = not elsewhere classified; S&E = science and engineering.

NOTES: This table includes only institutions reporting $1 million or more in total R&D expenditures in FY 2017. Institutions reporting less than $1 million in total R&D expenditures in FY 2017 completed a shorter version of the survey form in FY 2018 that did not include this question.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

Table 3 Source Data: Excel file

All R&D fields 75,184,396 79,285,866 5.5
Science 58,967,933 62,293,566 5.6
Computer and information sciences 2,193,432 2,401,405 9.5
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 3,150,721 3,161,640 0.3
Atmospheric science and meteorology 623,509 608,079 -2.5
Geological and earth sciences 1,086,492 1,134,428 4.4
Ocean sciences and marine sciences 1,098,636 1,058,656 -3.6
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, nec 342,084 360,477 5.4
Life sciences 43,129,461 45,843,545 6.3
Agricultural sciences 3,281,166 3,320,947 1.2
Biological and biomedical sciences 13,735,572 14,554,100 6.0
Health sciences 23,997,218 25,938,262 8.1
Natural resources and conservation 689,391 769,376 11.6
Life sciences, nec 1,426,114 1,260,860 -11.6
Mathematics and statistics 701,007 753,197 7.4
Physical sciences 5,049,186 5,237,556 3.7
Astronomy and astrophysics 648,264 667,103 2.9
Chemistry 1,793,423 1,876,128 4.6
Materials science 228,176 255,930 12.2
Physics 2,152,701 2,203,732 2.4
Physical sciences, nec 226,622 234,663 3.5
Psychology 1,240,530 1,262,689 1.8
Social sciences 2,557,259 2,746,565 7.4
Anthropology 111,041 121,012 9.0
Economics 434,924 464,977 6.9
Political science and government 414,049 443,172 7.0
Sociology, demography, and population studies 551,056 607,283 10.2
Social sciences, nec 1,046,189 1,110,121 6.1
Sciences, nec 946,337 886,969 -6.3
Engineering 11,918,807 12,373,843 3.8
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 991,026 1,011,811 2.1
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 1,220,105 1,339,652 9.8
Chemical engineering 935,352 933,523 -0.2
Civil engineering 1,302,996 1,360,174 4.4
Electrical, electronic, and communications engineering 2,727,207 2,846,600 4.4
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 353,132 515,034 45.8
Mechanical engineering 1,537,098 1,629,349 6.0
Metallurgical and materials engineering 736,773 763,667 3.7
Engineering, nec 2,115,118 1,974,033 -6.7
Non-S&E 4,297,656 4,618,457 7.5
Business management and business administration 726,266 786,056 8.2
Communication and communications technologies 203,255 171,314 -15.7
Education 1,377,102 1,487,388 8.0
Humanities 498,597 513,085 2.9
Law 223,841 268,330 19.9
Social work 235,514 251,367 6.7
Visual and performing arts 125,355 137,364 9.6
Non-S&E, nec 907,726 1,003,553 10.6

Several of the subfields with the largest percentage increases are those added to the survey in FY 2016, such as industrial and manufacturing engineering (46%), materials science (12%), and anthropology (9%).[5] The subfields of sciences, not elsewhere classified (nec) and engineering, nec declined further as universities try to more accurately report their expenditures by R&D field.

R&D Expenditures, by Type of Cost

Of the $79.3 billion in total FY 2018 R&D expenditures, higher education institutions identified $61.0 billion in direct costs and $18.3 billion in indirect costs (table 4). Salaries, wages and fringe benefits paid to R&D personnel ($34.8 billion) accounted for the largest portion. Other direct costs, including (but not limited to) travel, tuition, waivers, computer usage fees, supplies, and services, such as consulting, amounted to over $17.6 billion. Institutions also passed R&D funding totaling $6.3 billion in FY 2018 expenditures to other universities ($3.5 billion) or other organizations excluding contractors or other vendors ($2.8 billion) as part of their direct costs.[6] Nearly $12.8 billion of facilities and administrative costs were reimbursed from external R&D sponsors. Another $5.5 billion was identified as unrecovered indirect costs.[7]

TABLE 4. Higher education R&D expenditures, by type of cost: FY 2018
(Millions of dollars)
Type of cost R&D expenditures

NOTES: This table includes only institutions reporting $1 million or more in total R&D expenditures in FY 2017. Institutions reporting less than $1 million in total R&D expenditures in FY 2017 completed a shorter version of the survey form in FY 2018 that did not include this question.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

Table 4 Source Data: Excel file

All costs 79,286
Direct costs 60,986
Salaries, wages, and fringe benefits 34,767
Software purchases 122
Capitalized equipment 2,146
Passed through to subrecipients 6,344
Other direct costs 17,607
Indirect costs 18,300
Recovered 12,765
Unrecovered 5,535

Top University Research Performers Remain the Same

The top 30 institutions in terms of R&D expenditures accounted for 42% of the total spent on R&D within the higher education sector in FY 2018, the same share as in FYs 2016 and 2017 (table 5). The same 30 institutions from FYs 2016 and 2017 were again the top university R&D performers in FY 2018. Few institutions moved more than a couple of spots in the rankings from FY 2017. New York University dropped from number 18 in FY 2017 to number 24 in FY 2018, which is very similar to its number 23 ranking in FY 2016. The University of California, Los Angeles rose 6 positions to number 6 after identifying several R&D expenditure categories that were previously miscategorized, as well as receiving increased funding from various federal and non-federal sources.

TABLE 5. Thirty institutions reporting the largest FY 2018 R&D expenditures in all fields: FYs 2016–18
(Millions of current dollars)
Rank Institution 2016 2017 2018 % change 2017–18

a Johns Hopkins University includes Applied Physics Laboratory, with $1,521 million in total R&D expenditures in FY 2018.

NOTES: Because of rounding, detail may not add to total. Institutions ranked are geographically separate campuses headed by a campus-level president or chancellor.

SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey.

Table 5 Source Data: Excel file

All institutions 71,751 75,184 79,286 5.5
Leading 30 institutions 30,157 31,548 33,451 6.0
1 Johns Hopkins U.a 2,431 2,562 2,661 3.9
2 U. Michigan, Ann Arbor 1,436 1,530 1,601 4.6
3 U. California, San Francisco 1,294 1,409 1,596 13.2
4 U. Pennsylvania 1,296 1,374 1,442 4.9
5 U. Washington, Seattle 1,278 1,348 1,414 4.9
6 U. California, Los Angeles 1,038 1,077 1,318 22.4
7 U. California, San Diego 1,087 1,133 1,265 11.6
8 U. Wisconsin-Madison 1,158 1,193 1,206 1.0
9 Harvard U. 1,077 1,123 1,173 4.5
10 Duke U. 1,056 1,127 1,168 3.6
11 Stanford U. 1,066 1,110 1,158 4.3
12 U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill 1,045 1,102 1,136 3.1
13 Cornell U. 974 984 1,072 8.9
14 U. Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh 890 940 1,007 7.1
15 Yale U. 882 951 990 4.1
16 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 946 952 964 1.3
17 U. Minnesota, Twin Cities 910 922 955 3.6
18 Columbia U. in the City of New York 837 893 948 6.1
19 U. Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center 852 888 930 4.7
20 Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science Center 893 905 922 1.8
21 Pennsylvania State U., University Park and Hershey Medical Center 826 855 909 6.3
22 Georgia Institute of Technology 791 804 892 10.9
23 U. Southern California 703 764 892 16.7
24 New York U. 810 918 888 -3.3
25 Ohio State U. 818 864 875 1.2
26 U. Florida 791 801 865 7.9
27 Washington U., Saint Louis 741 754 816 8.2
28 Northwestern U. 713 752 806 7.2
29 U. California, Berkeley 774 771 797 3.3
30 U. California, Davis 742 738 789 6.8

Data Sources, Limitations, and Availability

The fiscal year referred to throughout this report is the academic fiscal year. For most institutions, FY 2018 represents 1 July 2017 through 30 June 2018. The higher education R&D expenditures data were collected from a census of 915 universities and colleges that grant a bachelor’s degree or higher and expended at least $150,000 in R&D in FY 2018. To reduce respondent burden, the HERD Survey was revised in FY 2012 to request abbreviated data from institutions reporting less than $1 million in R&D expenditures during the previous fiscal year. The totals shown in this InfoBrief, except for those from table 1 and the two figures, exclude expenditures from 269 institutions that completed a short-form version of the survey. The institutions completing the short-form survey accounted for $151 million (0.2%) of total higher education R&D expenditures in FY 2018.

The amounts reported include all funds expended for activities specifically organized to produce research outcomes and sponsored by an outside organization or separately accounted for using institution funds. R&D expenditures at university-administered federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) are collected in a separate survey, the FFRDC Research and Development Survey, available at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdc/.

The full set of data tables and technical information from this survey are available at https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/herd/2018/.

Notes

[1] Michael T. Gibbons, Research and Development Statistics Program, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Ave, Alexandria, VA 22331 (mgibbons@nsf.gov; 703-292-4590).

[2] All other sources includes those not reported in the five provided fields (U.S. federal government, state and local government, business, nonprofit organizations, and institutional funds). It includes such sources as funds from foreign governments, foreign or other U.S. universities, and gifts designated by donors for research.

[3] FY 2011 was the peak year for higher education R&D expenditures funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. For more details on those expenditures, see the NCSES InfoBrief Higher Education R&D Expenditures Resume Slow Growth in FY 2013 (https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2015/nsf15314/), and table 12 in the HERD FY 2014 data tables (https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/herd/2014/).

[4] In FY 2018, 156 institutions reported R&D conducted by their medical schools. 178 institutions reported R&D expenditures for Phase I, Phase II, or Phase III clinical trials with human patients. For more information, please see the HERD questionnaire and technical notes at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvyherd/.

[5] Substantive changes were made to the field list and classification structure for the FY 2016 survey to coordinate the categories with other NCSES surveys. Several fields were renamed, such as medical sciences to health sciences, and some disciplines were moved to different subfields to achieve comparability across surveys. In particular, many of the disciplines listed under life sciences, not elsewhere classified were moved to health sciences. In addition, four new subfields were added: natural resources and conservation under life sciences, materials science under physical sciences, anthropology under social sciences, and industrial and manufacturing engineering under engineering. These changes primarily affect trends in the revised subfields and do not significantly affect the broad field trends. For complete details on the changes, see Technical Notes, Appendix A in the HERD FY 2016 data tables (https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/herd/2016/).

[6] For more details on expenditures passed through to subrecipients, see tables 4, 73–76, and 84 at https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/herd/2018/.

[7] For more information on the definitions and collection of these fields, please see the HERD questionnaire and technical notes at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvyherd/.