As a pivotal driver for enhancing teaching quality and advancing educational innovation, teaching competitions in higher education involve collaborative participation from national and local governments, industries, universities, and enterprises. In recent years, these competitions have flourished, significantly galvanizing enthusiasm and active engagement among university faculty. Their vigorous promotion has fostered the continuous renewal and refinement of educational philosophies, catalyzed teacher development, and charted new trajectories for pedagogical reform. Nevertheless, current teaching competitions grapple with challenges such as the misalignment between competition objectives and pedagogical practice, inflated claims about competition outcomes, and formulaic approaches. To address these issues, it is essential to first reassert the core values of competitions, reinforcing educators" commitment to sound pedagogical principles to ensure competitions authentically serve teaching’s fundamental purpose. Second, establishing a fair, transparent, and scientifically grounded evaluation system and incentive mechanism is imperative to objectively assess teaching achievements, thereby transforming competitions into a true reflection of teaching quality. Finally, deepening the integration of competitions into routine teaching practices and accelerating the application of competition-derived innovations will propel pedagogical advancement and drive comprehensive improvements in educational quality.