US Higher Education Reform and Innovation:
a Discussion with Stratsi Kulinski, President of NewU

Is college still worth it? A mountain of student debt. Low graduation rates. Persistent skills gaps. Consistent underemployment. Admissions scandals. Visa restrictions. How did we get here? How do we move forward?

In this discussion, we learned about the trends and most pressing challenges in Higher Education in the US, and heard from former American University in Bulgaria President and trustee, Mr. Stratsi Kulinski about his DC-based project to tackle many of these challenges from a new perspective.

Stratsi Kulinski is the president of NewU ( www.newu.university ), which is a novel solution to the student debt crisis. His goal is to eliminate student debt for future generations of students through innovations to the operating and academic model of traditional universities.

Before he conceived and launched NewU, Stratsi served as President of the American University in Bulgaria ( www.aubg.edu ), a private Liberal Arts university regionally accredited in the United States and accredited in the European Union.

Previously, he has been a part of a number of innovative initiatives, including TiVo, the Silicon Valley television technology pioneer, Intelsat which is the largest satellite telecom company in the world, and co-founded AURA, the first private radio station in Bulgaria. Stratsi holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA degree in Business Administration from The American University in Bulgaria, where he served on the Board of Trustees prior to his appointment as President.