The funding is aimed at improving teaching and learning

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) says the centres will help develop the teaching and research skills of future UK academics.

The HEFCE funds will be spread across 54 institutions, from big universities to smaller specialist colleges.

Plans for the centres were unveiled in the government's White Paper on higher education in 2003.

Sir Howard Newby, chief executive of HEFCE, said the scheme would have "a major impact on the learning experiences of students throughout the country".

"The influence and the impact of the centres of excellence will go well beyond the individual universities and colleges," he added.

RSC partnership

Oxford University is one of the institutions receiving money.

It says it will get a total of �3.3m for its centre of excellence over the next five years.

Dr Bill Macmillan, academic pro-vice-chancellor at Oxford, said: "The award of this funding is recognition that Oxford is an outstanding place to start your academic career.

"The centre will also be important to the university in reinforcing the quality of teaching undertaken by post-graduates."

The University of Warwick has been awarded �4.5m for a centre based on a partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Under the scheme, RSC actors will take part in master-classes with university staff on the background and contexts of plays.

It will also involve the appointment of a playwright in residence and a rotating position of professor of creativity and performance.

'Undergraduate experience'

Jonathan Bate, Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature at Warwick and a governor of the RSC, said the process of making theatre was an interesting model for good practice in teaching and learning.

"The new centre will enable us to explore and exploit a teaching model that offers some of the most important transferable skills we can give our students: the ability to think oneself into the other person's point of view, to work as part of a team, and to find answers through the process of framing good questions," he said.

Warwick has also been awarded �3.3m for a second centre which aims to "revolutionise the way a university's research activities can be used to enhance the undergraduate student experience".