Riccardo Ocleppo, is the Founder & Director of the Open Institute of Know-how. (OPIT). OPIT is a completely accredited Increased Schooling Establishment beneath the European Qualification Framework (EQF) and the MFHEA Authority. OPIT can be acknowledged by WES (World Schooling Providers), a trusted non-profit offering verified schooling credential assessments (ECA) within the U.S. and Canada for overseas 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 Faculties 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 have been your key takeaways from this expertise?
As a pupil in digital engineering, at all times aspiring for the perfect grades, I by no means had sufficient research materials to arrange 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 tutorial 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 schooling sector right this moment.
How did this expertise lead you to launching an accredited Increased Schooling Establishment?
With Docsity, we proactively collaborate and accomplice with greater than 250 universities and tutorial establishments worldwide in a variety of areas. The entire larger schooling market is fascinating, with quite a bit happening and quite a bit to be performed, principally 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 Know-how (OPIT), we’re doing simply that: revolutionary, high-quality Levels in tech fields at a really inexpensive worth.
Are you able to talk about how OPIT differentiates itself from different AI programs which might be provided?
Our Levels at OPIT span totally different areas: Pc Science, AI, Information 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 how one can embed AI within the merchandise they aspire to create. We’ve got a technical AI program for aspiring programmers on this area 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 essential factor to underline is that wherever we discuss 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 talk about why accountable AI ought to be on the forefront of AI schooling?
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 should 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, protecting 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 applying of AI in several contexts by way of hands-on tasks. Time period 3 is the place college students put their acquired data to work by way of a Capstone venture.
How does OPIT’s curriculum particularly handle the hole between theoretical data and sensible abilities in know-how 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 prime academicians and professors who mix sturdy tutorial 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 frequently up to date. The skilled expertise of our professors is our greatest assure that they’ll construct related, applicative case research on prime of the speculation.
By hiring professors who’re nicely versed in know-how and AI fields, they’ll higher educate college students the sensible abilities wanted as they themselves have been within the area with this know-how and have first-hand expertise with it.
How does OPIT be certain that its levels, accredited inside 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 some 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. tutorial establishments.
You constructed OPIT utilizing a top-down method, how does this method apply to constructing an schooling platform?
When constructing a brand new Increased Schooling Establishment, you have to guarantee you will have all the important thing administration onboard from day one. This rings true particularly should you construct one thing extraordinarily revolutionary and disruptive. I discovered this the perfect method to ensure the alignment between the mission/technique and its execution.
You might be actively, and closely, concerned within the recruiting of OPIT College of Professors. What abilities do you search for in a professor?
Our recruitment course of is very selective and thorough. We principally search for three issues:
- Being a powerful academician: you know the way to show, and you like doing so
- Related skilled expertise exterior academia to be sure to cannot solely educate concept but in addition how one can use it in observe
- Sturdy curiosity in OPIT and alignment with our mission
There’s a powerful concentrate on enterprise in lots of the programs which might be provided, why ought to entrepreneurs contemplate taking these programs?
Sure, even in know-how 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 be capable of discover their future co-founders.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to OPIT.
