In universities around the world, academics are encouraged to facilitate excellent education. The concept of teaching excellence in higher education offers different definitions and interpretations. Teaching excellence contributes to business students' optimal development to become professional and trusted value creators for business and society. Universities acknowledge teachers' efforts towards students' development and learning through teaching excellence awards. The recognition of an excellent teacher poses questions such as who the appropriate candidate is and why, the characteristics of the nominated candidates, and the selection committee or evaluation criteria for awarding an excellent teacher this title. Different stakeholders have distinct perceptions of evaluating the quality of teaching. Extant literature has scarce evidence to answer these questions.
Our empirical data advances the understanding of teaching excellence awards from the perspective of accounting and business students. We also evaluate the process and criteria used by higher education institutions from eleven countries across five continents. This research contributes to the literature by examining whether perceptions of such awards vary between academic institutions in different countries. Therefore, the emphasis is on exploring differences and similarities across multiple countries
