Speakers
Dr Kenneth Cushner EdD
Professor, Kent State University, Ohio, USABiography
Dr Kenneth Cushner's professional career has focused on ways better to understand the dynamics of intercultural interaction and how best to guide students and teachers to enhance their intercultural understanding and competence. He has taught in schools in Switzerland, Australia and the United States and has travelled extensively with young people and teachers. He is widely published in the fields of cross-cultural training and teacher education and his many books include Human Diversity in Education: An Intercultural Approach, whichis now in its 8th edition. He is a Founding Fellow and past President of the International Academy for Intercultural Research; he serves as Director of the Consortium of Overseas Student Teaching, a collaboration of 15 US universities that send student teachers overseas; and was a Fulbright Scholar to Sweden in 2008. He has consulted with a wide range of organizations, including numerous universities worldwide.
Dr Indu Shahani
Principal of the HR College of Commerce and Economics, MumbaiBiography
Dr Indu Shahani has been the Principal of the H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in South Mumbai since 2000. She graduated from the renowned Sydenham College, Mumbai and holds a Ph.D. in Commerce from the University of Mumbai. A doyenne in the field of academics, she has more than three decades of teaching experience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, playing a significant role in nurturing future leaders. She is a firm believer in a student empowered teaching-learning model that places the responsibility of learning on the learner and also promotes creative faculty development. Among very many public appointments she holds, she is currently a member of the University Grants Committee for India and has recently held the post of Sheriff of Mumbai. She was the first Indian to be appointed Vice-Chair of the Board of the Governors of the International Baccalaureate and has over a decade of experience with the IB organization. In 2014 she received the 'Woman of the Decade' award from ASSOCHAM - the leading Chamber of Commerce in India.
Ann Puntis
Senior Academic Director with Global Study PassBiography
Ann has extensive experience in education and assessment, in the classroom, as a Principal and as a policy-maker. She was Chief Executive of University of Cambridge International Examinations from 2005 – 2013 and oversaw rapid international growth in the number of Cambridge schools and in curriculum and assessment innovation during this time. Since stepping down from CIE, Ann has worked as the Senior Academic Director with Global Study Pass.
She obtained her B.Sc. Econ with First Class Honours and proceeded to research at the University of Oxford. She has a Post Graduate Certificate in Education and MA from the University of Cambridge, and received her MBA in 2000. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Trustee of the Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust which supports students on degree courses at the University of Cambridge.Â