I am passionate about teaching and have taught at all levels at UCT, from freshman to advanced graduate level with courses ranging from mathematical modelling to complex differential geometry.  My philosophy is to “teach what I would have liked to have learnt, how I would have liked to have learnt it”. Consequently, I have not been shy with taking a lead and developing and re-developing material to bring courses up to modern international standards with appropriate input from contemporary research areas. I have embraced modern, rapidly developing technologies and pioneered many initiatives like podcasting and video casting lectures many years before they became the norm. I have been an invited plenary speaker at a National Teaching with Technology Conference held at the University of the Western Cape in 2010 to demonstrate some of the innovative techniques employed in my classes. I believe in my students. I believe that they are capable of much more than they know themselves and I push them hard to reach their potential. I have developed novel ways to engage strong students by stimulating them with research- inspired problems and mentorship and help struggling students with weekly work- shops on everything from career advice to scholarship advice to time management sessions. For my sins, I have been nominated for the Distinguished Teacher Award, selected onto the Mail & Guardian’s list of 200 most influential Young South Africans and found that my students have set up a “Jeff Murugan Appreciation page”.

Graduate: