Background Recently there has been a growing body of research into teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning. University teachers' conceptions of teaching are built through their experiences of designing and teaching courses, and from strategies and procedures established within the department/faculty. In fact we can find differences in the ways in which university teachers think about pedagogical matters. Research usually outlines contrasting conceptions of teaching, with a main contrast between a teacher-focused conception, linked to information transmission (content orientation) and a conception that is student-focused with emphasis on conceptual change (conceptual development orientation) (Prosser & Trigwell, 1999). Some of the research suggests that conceptions of teaching can be found in teachers prior experience and beliefs, and affect their current decisions about how to design courses and how to teach and assess. In some studies university teachers' conceptions of teaching are related to their ways of teaching, and those, in turn, are associated with students' approaches to studying (Trigwell, Prosser and Waterhouse, 1999). There is evidence that the way academic staff conceptualise learning and teaching influences their approaches to teaching and the extent to which their students reach higher levels of learning. The effects of different forms of teaching and assessment led researchers to investigate differences in the ways university teachers describe their teaching. In this sense, another key theme in the literature is the importance of assessment and feedback practices as drivers of student learning. Assessment methods drive institutional learning and their effects determine what is learned more than do formal curricula and teaching methods themselves (Biggs, 1996). Aims Based on recent research into teaching and learning in higher education, this study aims to establish a hierarchy of conceptions, from teacher-focused to student-focused categories. Our aim is to understand how academic staff conceptualise teaching, learning and assessment, as well as the ways in which they percept learning outcomes and how those perceptions were related to their approaches to teaching. Method The study is presented in detail and related to the literature on the nature of conceptions and on teachers' knowledge and beliefs about teaching, learning and assessment. The interview sample comprised 11 teachers who varied in terms of their teaching experience, subject areas and ages at a Portuguese university. In this qualitative study teachers were interviewed about how they conceptualise teaching, learning, assessment and higher education learning outcomes. The interviews were conducted individually and tape-recorded. The time taken was between 15 minutes and 2 hours. An interview schedule was prepared, based on semi-structured questions. The interviews were content analysed, to identify the major categories of the participants teaching conception. Results and implications Some of the initial interviews suggested major differences between subject areas in how teaching and learning are conceptualised. This study found relations between the perceptions and approaches. Relations observed suggest that the adoption of a student focused approach to teaching is associated with perceptions that the teacher has control over the contents of the course. Results also suggest that the ways in which course materials are selected, organised, presented and assessed, reflect the particular teaching conception held. In this sense the analysis provided a description of what may underlie sophisticated conceptions of teaching and leads to discussion about how conceptual change may encourage academic staff.