Recognition of teaching excellence has become a global trend in higher education as various schemes and awards are established as a way to assure stakeholders of the quality of teaching in universities. At present, there is a lack of research into what teaching excellence means from an institutional perspective. This study explores the conceptualisation of teaching excellence in 95 award documents from research-intensive and non-research-intensive higher education institutions as well as national and regional-level teaching excellence schemes. Data were collected from official institution websites and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings show that teaching excellence is defined by five dimensions of excellence (impact, innovation, inclusivity, scholarship of teaching and learning, and student-centredness) in six aspects of teaching (pedagogy, curriculum planning and design, assessment, student support, service to communities and professional development). A matrix is constructed based on the findings to explicate the concept of teaching excellence, and potential contradictions and tensions concerning the values emphasised in the dimensions of excellence are highlighted. The findings of this study have theoretical and practical implications for researchers, policy makers, staff development personnel and practitioners.