Abertay, Dundee and St Andrews universities are to share more than £116 million in public funding next year.
The grants, mostly to pay for teaching and research, are part of a package of more than £1 billion for higher education announced by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
Dundee University will receive £62.3 million, with £36.8m going to St Andrews and £17.4m to Abertay.
Extra funded student places are also being made available in a drive to widen access to people from poorer backgrounds, encourage more students to move on from college to university and boost key skills.
Dundee University’s allocation is 245 students more than half of them under the wider access programme with 52 at Abertay.
St Andrews University, which was criticised earlier this year by the National of Union of Students for taking on only a handful of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, will get 20 places under wider access plus another 50 under the skills programme.
A university spokeswoman said: “We are funded by the Government to admit 500 Scottish students a year to St Andrews.
“Much as we would like to, we cannot exceed that total or we are fined.
“We are one of the nation’s smallest universities and account for less than 2% of Scotland’s university capacity.
“Under these proposals, however, we will be admitting more than 10% of all qualified Scottish students from deprived backgrounds.
“Given that it is now established that so few school pupils from the most deprived areas in Scotland are being supported to achieve basic university entry grades, that target is, by any standards, ambitious and fair.”
The SFC said: “We are providing additional places as an incentive to institutions to recruit and retain greater numbers of students from the most deprived neighbourhoods in Scotland.
“The scheme is targeted at the most selective institutions with the highest demand and which do not traditionally recruit from the most deprived areas.
“We are allocating a total of 727 additional funded places for 2013/14.”
The University and College Union Scotland, which represents academic staff, said it welcomed a real-terms increase in funding for universities, but raised concerns that core funding for teaching and research was down.
Based on Government inflation forecasts for next year, it said St Andrews was facing a 2.3% real terms cut, although Dundee’s budget would be up by 1.7% and Abertay’s by 2%.
The union’s Scottish official Mary Senior said: “The announcement should provide funding stability for institutions and employment security for staff in the sector.”
She added: “The increased places in support of widening access agreed by universities is very welcome to ensure that more people from non-traditional backgrounds can benefit from a university education.”
grsmith@thecourier.co.uk