How co-teaching by international faculty is enhancing diversity at UPES

UPES students get the opportunity to learn from experts hailing from different parts of the world, including Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom

Instructional delivery plays a crucial role in shaping learners’ perspectives. Inclusive educational practices such as co-teaching can provide a unique learning opportunity for students. It is one of the methods of instruction wherein two or more faculty teach as a team in a classroom. There are different models of co-teaching, including One Teach, One Support; Parallel Teaching; Alternative Teaching; Station Teaching; and Team Teaching.

Co-teaching enables students to learn from distinguished faculty hailing from different parts of the world. According to Dr. Sheetal Khanka, Head, Department of International Affairs, and Associate Professor, Organisation Behaviour at UPES, “Diversity in a university provides a platform for students to explore the world beyond the immediate environment. Having an international faculty is an excellent opportunity to experience a subject in a truly global way. The course curriculum and syllabus remain the same, but an international faculty provides a fresh perspective, thus enhancing the students’ exposure.”

Continuing its pursuit of providing the best learning experience to its students, UPES has collaborated with several esteemed international faculty. A glimpse at some of the faculty’s notable work:

Jan Bauer is a Hamburg-based animation artist, illustrator, writer, and lecturer. He has worked on various formats over the last 20 years including television series, feature films, commercials, shorts, and educational videos for animation and live-action. His key competence is visual storytelling – the transformation of ideas into pictures. Besides being a storyboard artist, Bauer has experience as an animator, layout artist, director, and character and prop designer. He is also an internationally-recognised comic artist. His graphic novel ‘The Salty River’ has been published in four languages. Bauer has taught at several institutions such as the University of Applied Science, Europe, and Bauhaus University, Weimar.

Vladimir Isailovic is a visual artist, designer, and teacher. Born in Belgrade, Serbia, he pursued his master’s from the Institute for Art in Context, Berlin, Germany, and a Diploma in Fine Arts, from the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, Italy. Isailovic specialises in game design, video production, sound design, graphic design, painting, engraving, illustration, and curating. He won the Award for Woodcut, Biennale of Young Artists, Kanagawa, Japan and the Award for Installation: Hommage to Hitchcock, Fondazione Zucchelli, Bologna, Italy.

Manfred Naescher is a visual artist from Berlin, Germany. He has studied design in Canada and has several awards and grants to his name, such as the Cultural Foundation of Liechtenstein: Exhibition Grant. His extensive list of published work includes Still-Ten Watercolours, Faces, and Visiting Shadows, to name a few. Naescher has also conducted several workshops and drawing experiments.

Silvia Perdiguero Romero is well-versed in Spanish, English and Basque, developed throughout a career in, first, international media (BBC in Northern Ireland, EITB and Vocento in Spain, TeleMedia in Hungary, EuroParlTV in Brussels) and then in teaching and facilitation (Theatre of the Oppressed, The Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter). She has delivered workshops on several topics and voluntary work in Northern Ireland, China, Kenya, and Morocco – with programs like Beijing Broads, Active Citizens, ICAN, Grundtvig, and PEACE III.

Basel Naouri is an architect, musician, and designer of immersive spaces and experiences. Originally from Jordan, he is currently based in Berlin, where he is engaged in several projects in the fields of spatial sound, media architecture, and immersive spaces. Naouri’s academic and professional work is focused on the cross-section between sound and architecture. He collaborates with architecture and design firms and museums as well as other artists, musicians, and architects on innovative projects, displaying his work in international design events and performances. Naouri is the founder and lead researcher of Timelab for transmedia design and lecturer and artistic researcher at Masters of Media Spaces at UE-A&D, Berlin, Germany.

Rekesh Raj Pandey, originally from Nepal and currently based out of Germany, is an experienced multidisciplinary designer and co-founder of ‘Archraphix’. He is passionate about telling stories about brands, products, and companies. He specialises in 2D & 3D animation, VFX, projection mapping to team building and project management.

Bart Kuipers is a professional storyteller, all-round creative writer, teacher and freelance journalist dedicated to creating engaging content for a wide range of audiences. His work includes television screenplays work for children, LGBTQ+ themed short stories, literary critiques, and contributions to political magazines. Kuipers aim is to immerse, inform, and entertain through inventive language, moving narratives, and surprising angles. As an educator, he creates an encouraging environment, a safe space, in which students feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and writings. Kuipers has worked as a Creative Writing Teacher at Boston University and has numerous published works to his credit.

Diversity in education has a direct impact on the students, benefitting them academically and socially. Interactions with faculty from different cultural backgrounds lead to enhanced awareness of the world, improved communication, critical thinking, and thought-processing skills. Students become more empathetic and innovative in their approach to building solutions. UPES will continue to offer an education that is both global and inclusive so students can become better prepared for the complex and pluralistic society.