To succeed James H. Mullen, Jr.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian American Renu Khator has been named as head of the American Council on Education, a national organization that has significant influence over higher education in the United States.
Renu Khator, Chancellor of University of Houston System and also President of University of Houston (UH), will be the new Chair of American Council on Education (ACE), succeeding James H. Mullen Jr.
The American Council on Education is a national organization representing all institutions of higher education– from elite private to community colleges to ‘for profit’ universities – in America.
Khator, who was born in Uttar Pradesh and educated at the University of Kanpur, has amassed a glittering resume as the UH System’s first woman chancellor, UH’s first foreign-born president, and the first ever Indian immigrant to lead a comprehensive research university in the U.S.
Khator told PTI that she believes the United States and India have the same educational mission but approach their goals differently.
“India does not have a two-year college system for those who wish to pursue trade related degrees. It has a cohort system where a student enters a university and must continue and finish his or her degree at a predetermined course in a pre-selected field. In U.S., students can work on their own pace and start their degree at any age and change majors several times,” she stated. “Bachelor’s education in the US includes two years of common core. Irrespective of your field of study – engineering or commerce or arts – everyone must take common courses in humanities, math, and social sciences.”