This paper explores the implications of the effective integration of research, teaching and learning for academic development through the lens of an international multi-institutional comparison of student perceptions of research and its impact on their learning environment. The study, with a sample of over 500 final-year undergraduate students across three institutions in the UK and Canada, represents a spectrum of research and teaching intensive universities and is one of the largest exploring undergraduate student perceptions of research in the linking teaching and research literature. The results indicate a complex relationship between student perceptions and experiences of research and the type of institution, as well as the individual, institutional and national context. They also inform the discussion of particular issues that academic developers face and the strategies they use to improve the integration of research and teaching to benefit the undergraduate learning experience in their institution. (Contains 6 tables.)