University teaching is a diverse enterprise which encompasses a range of disciplines, curricula, teaching methods, learning tasks and learning approaches. Within this diversity, common themes and issues which reflect academics' understanding of effective teaching may be discerned. Drawing on written data collected from 708 practising teachers who were nominated by their Heads or Deans as exhibiting exemplary teaching practice, and from interviews conducted with 44 of these, a number of these themes and issues are identified and illustrated. The findings offer insights which may stimulate further reflection on, and discussion of, the quality of teaching in higher education.