Riccardo Ocleppo, is the Founder & Director of the Open Institute of Expertise. (OPIT). OPIT is a totally accredited Larger Training Establishment underneath the European Qualification Framework (EQF) and the MFHEA Authority. OPIT can be acknowledged by WES (World Training Providers), a trusted non-profit offering verified training credential assessments (ECA) within the U.S. and Canada for international levels and certificates.
Earlier than OPIT, Riccardo based Docsity, a world group with 15M registered college college students and a consolidated accomplice of 250+ Universities and Enterprise Colleges worldwide. Riccardo holds an MSc in Electronics at Politecnico di Torino, an MSc in Administration at London Enterprise College.
In 2010, you launched Docsity, a platform that helps college students excel of their research by providing them the instruments they should put together for his or her exams. What had been your key takeaways from this expertise?
As a scholar in digital engineering, all the time aspiring for the very best grades, I by no means had sufficient research materials to organize for my exams, particularly when it comes to research notes, workout routines and mock exams. My college – Politecnico di Torino – certainly offered many sources, however I nonetheless wanted extra. I felt this want was someway shared with many different college students in several fields of research, universities and geographies. From this easy perception, I created Docsity, a spot the place college college students can share and discover helpful educational content material with one another and enhance their preparation for exams. This expertise led me to work with each college students and universities, shaping my imaginative and prescient of the standing and desires of the upper training sector right now.
How did this expertise lead you to launching an accredited Larger Training Establishment?
With Docsity, we proactively collaborate and accomplice with greater than 250 universities and educational establishments worldwide in a lot of areas. The entire larger training market is fascinating, with loads occurring and loads to be carried out, largely when it comes to innovating/modernizing the curricula of levels, totally embracing on-line studying, and focusing much more on functions (and never simply concept).
With the Open Institute of Expertise (OPIT), we’re doing simply that: modern, high-quality Levels in tech fields at a really inexpensive value.
Are you able to focus on how OPIT differentiates itself from different AI programs which can be provided?
Our Levels at OPIT span completely different areas: Pc Science, AI, Knowledge Science, Cybersecurity and Digital Enterprise. AI is embedded in each single Diploma we provide from a number of angles. We educate aspiring Cybersecurity professionals how Generative AI is altering the world of cyber threats or how it may be used to assist digital forensics. We educate digital enterprise college students the best way to embed AI within the merchandise they aspire to create. We’ve a technical AI program for aspiring programmers on this discipline the place they go deep into all of the “AI verticals” (NLP, Pc Imaginative and prescient, AI for IoT and Automation), and so forth. One vital factor to underline is that wherever we speak about AI, we additionally embed the ideas of ethics, accountability and human-centeredness.
OPIT provides a Grasp’s Diploma (MSc) in Accountable Synthetic Intelligence. Are you able to focus on why accountable AI needs to be on the forefront of AI training?
The Grasp of Science (MSc) in Accountable AI is a technical program in AI that strongly embeds the idea of “accountability”. Future AI tech professionals have to be technically savvy and totally perceive the societal implications of what they may code and create.
This system provides sturdy foundations in AI throughout time period 1, masking areas like Machine Studying and superior Python programming. Then goes deeper in Time period 2, by specializing in “verticals” like NLP and Pc Imaginative and prescient and the appliance of AI in several contexts by means of hands-on tasks. Time period 3 is the place college students put their acquired data to work by means of a Capstone undertaking.
How does OPIT’s curriculum particularly deal with the hole between theoretical data and sensible abilities in expertise and AI, as talked about by Professor Francesco Profumo?
Growing our levels in order that they supply college students with “applicative” and “hands-on” expertise has been a key precedence for us because the very starting. First, we employed high academicians and professors who mix sturdy educational expertise and a related skilled background. We’re very clear about who our school is, and all our professors are listed on the web site and often up to date. The skilled expertise of our professors is our greatest assure that they’ll construct related, applicative case research on high of the idea.
By hiring professors who’re properly versed in expertise and AI fields, they’ll higher educate college students the sensible abilities wanted as they themselves have been within the discipline with this expertise and have first-hand expertise with it.
How does OPIT be sure that its levels, accredited throughout the European Qualification Framework, are acknowledged and valued by employers globally, and particularly within the USA?
Our levels have full authorized worth in Europe, and like for every other EU establishment, I don’t see any impediment to employers’ correctly valuing a level from an accredited establishment. We’re additionally working with certification our bodies within the U.S. to develop and combine this recognition from U.S. educational establishments.
You constructed OPIT utilizing a top-down strategy, how does this strategy apply to constructing an training platform?
When constructing a brand new Larger Training Establishment, you need to guarantee you’ve gotten all the important thing administration onboard from day one. This rings true particularly in the event you construct one thing extraordinarily modern and disruptive. I discovered this the very best strategy to ensure the alignment between the mission/technique and its execution.
You might be actively, and closely, concerned within the recruiting of OPIT School of Professors. What abilities do you search for in a professor?
Our recruitment course of is extremely selective and thorough. We largely search for three issues:
- Being a powerful academician: you understand how to show, and you like doing so
- Related skilled expertise outdoors academia to be sure to can’t solely educate concept but in addition the best way to use it in follow
- Sturdy curiosity in OPIT and alignment with our mission
There’s a powerful concentrate on enterprise in most of the programs which can be provided, why ought to entrepreneurs think about taking these programs?
Sure, even in expertise Levels, we like to present our college students a broader view. The professionals of tomorrow will want to have the ability to join the dots and adapt rapidly. To take action, they should broaden their horizons.
If college students consider launching their very own startup, our levels can be an ideal match to amass sturdy abilities from a number of angles and join with a vibrant group the place they’ll possible have the ability to discover their future co-founders.
Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to be taught extra ought to go to OPIT.
