Today's university teachers are faced with different challenges, where the digitization of higher education constitute one of the most prominent. In order to practice their profession, teachers need to possess knowledge not only in their subject areas, but also in other areas such as pedagogy, learning environment, diversity of learners, professional engagement, curriculum, assessment and grading. On that note, the concept of academic teachership has gained ground in higher education as an approach where university teachers continuously and systematically reflect on, explore and develop their own pedagogical practice and its impact on students' learning (Bolander Laksov & Scheja, 2020). Academic teachership focuses on stimulating student learning by using approaches to teaching based on research and proven experience. In order to provide quality learning for the students, teachers take every opportunity to improve their own professional practice. But what kind of competence development do teachers need to meet these standards? In the present study, interviews with university teachers from two Swedish universities was carried out aiming to investigate what university teachers' need for competence development look like and how the teachers themselves view higher education pedagogy in relation to their teaching? Using content analysis, preliminary results show that contemporary higher education institutions require an increased active participation of university teachers focusing practically oriented didactic issues such as planning, commitment and enthusiasm, activating teaching methods, partnership co-creation and collaboration to improve the quality of teaching. Teachers' thinking skills, relationship with knowledge, problem-solving skills, and innovative attitude are seen as necessary competencies for teachers to be able to develop strategies in accordance with students' situations and learning environment and for meaningful learning to take place. Moreover, it suggests that the academic teacher is an integral part of the university’s education development and quality work which is characterized by a sense of shared responsibility.