University of Canterbury Teaching Medal recipient associate professor Ekant Veer during a lecture in 2014.

A University of Canterbury lecturer who uses humour and controversy to get students thinking has won a rare accolade.

Marketing associate professor Ekant Veer has been awarded the Teaching Medal by the university's council.

He is only the 10th lecturer to receive the institute's highest accolade for teaching excellence.

Veer has been a popular lecturer during his 13-year career, previously gaining the university's Teaching Award and being voted Lecturer of the Year five times by students.

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He was hailed as a "role model" and inspirational leader by staff, students, the public and the race relations commissioner after handing back his 2014 Lecturer of the Year award in protest of an "underbelly of hate" and racism among some students.

His move was in response to the way the University of Canterbury Students' Association – which gave him the award – handled the aftermath to the controversial 2014 Engineering Society (Ensoc) RoUndie 500 event that sparked about 100 complaints of racism and sexism.

Students were encouraged to choose themes – "the more inappropriate the better" – but Veer argued no-one's race was inappropriate.

Veer, who is of Indian descent, said he "got plenty of hate mail" after taking his stand.

"But I knew that was going to happen going in."

The university was a better place as a result, and he got a lot of support from management, he said.

"When we do the right thing and push the boundaries, good things happen."

Veer found out about the 2017 medal while taking photos in Christchurch's Port Hills, where he "ended up having a cry to myself".

"It's nice to feel valued. It's nice to feel recognised for the hard work you put in."

Veer admitted he like to do things a bit differently. He used technology and debate to engage students and have them apply his lessons to the real world.

"I'm crazy passionate, even about the most mundane stuff," he said.

"For me, teaching doesn't stop in the classroom."

He liked lessons and assessments to be fun.

In one multi-choice exam, he inserted a line from the Frozen film theme song into the answer options for every question, so the hit song got subliminally stuck in their heads.

"If you can't have fun while you're young and studying, then you're going to get sick of it."

He often encouraged students to be the devil's advocate during lessons, using controversy to spark debate.

"I don't want students to know things; I want students who know how to ask the right questions and find the answers to them."

Veer "got the bug" for academia in 2004 when he left a good marketing job within a multi-million-dollar company to do his PhD. "It just wasn't stretching me. Clearly I wanted more than money."

Canterbury was the only university he knew of that offered a teaching medal.

"It's really nice to show that teaching is extremely well valued."

A university spokeswoman said the Teaching Medal, awarded only nine other times, recognised an outstanding and sustained contribution to teaching.

Deputy vice-chancellor Hamish Cochrane said Veer was a strong and innovative candidate with a proven record as an "outstanding teacher".

His work was also used as teaching material beyond the university, he said.