Riccardo Ocleppo, is the Founder & Director of the Open Institute of Know-how. (OPIT). OPIT is a totally accredited Greater Schooling Establishment below the European Qualification Framework (EQF) and the MFHEA Authority. As such, OPIT levels have full authorized worth in Europe and are professionally acknowledged by employers.

Earlier than OPIT, Riccardo based Docsity, a worldwide group with 15M registered college college students and a consolidated associate of 250+ Universities and Enterprise Faculties worldwide. Riccardo holds an MSc in Electronics at Politecnico di Torino, an MSc in Administration at London Enterprise Faculty.

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 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, workouts and mock exams. My college – Politecnico di Torino – certainly offered many assets, however I nonetheless wanted extra. I felt this want was one way or the other shared with many different college students in several fields of research, universities and geographies. From this straightforward 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 at this time.

How did this expertise lead you to launching an accredited Greater Schooling Establishment?

With Docsity, we proactively collaborate and associate with greater than 250 universities and educational establishments worldwide in various areas. The entire increased training market is fascinating, with loads occurring and loads to be completed, 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 principle).

With the Open Institute of Know-how (OPIT), we’re doing simply that: revolutionary, high-quality Levels in tech fields at a really inexpensive value.

Are you able to talk about how OPIT differentiates itself from different AI programs which can be supplied?

Our Levels at OPIT span totally different areas: Laptop Science, AI, Information Science, Cybersecurity and Digital Enterprise. AI is embedded in each single Diploma we provide from a number of angles. We train aspiring Cybersecurity professionals how Generative AI is altering the world of cyber threats or how it may be used to assist digital forensics. We train digital enterprise college students methods to embed AI within the merchandise they aspire to create. We’ve a technical AI program for aspiring programmers on this subject the place they go deep into all of the “AI verticals” (NLP, Laptop 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, duty and human-centeredness.

OPIT presents a Grasp’s Diploma (MSc) in Accountable Synthetic Intelligence. Are you able to talk about 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 “duty”. Future AI tech professionals should be technically savvy and totally perceive the societal implications of what they’ll code and create.

This system presents 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 Laptop Imaginative and prescient and the appliance of AI in several contexts by means of hands-on initiatives. Time period 3 is the place college students put their acquired information to work by means of a Capstone undertaking.

How does OPIT’s curriculum particularly deal with the hole between theoretical information and sensible abilities in know-how and AI, as talked about by Professor Francesco Profumo?

Creating our levels in order that they supply college students with “applicative” and “hands-on” expertise has been a key precedence for us for the reason that very starting. First, we employed prime academicians and professors who mix sturdy educational expertise and a related skilled background. We’re very clear about who our college is, and all our professors are listed on the web site and recurrently 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 idea.

By hiring professors who’re effectively versed in know-how and AI fields, they’ll higher train college students the sensible abilities wanted as they themselves have been within the subject 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 another 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 increase and combine this recognition from U.S. educational establishments.

You constructed OPIT utilizing a top-down method, how does this method apply to constructing an training platform?

When constructing a brand new Greater Schooling Establishment, it’s essential to guarantee you have got 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 very best 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 extremely selective and thorough. We largely search for three issues:

• Being a powerful academician: you know the way to show, and you like doing so
• Related skilled expertise outdoors academia to ensure you can’t solely train principle but in addition methods to use it in apply
• Robust curiosity in OPIT and alignment with our mission

There’s a powerful give attention to enterprise in lots of the programs which can be supplied, why ought to entrepreneurs think about 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 seemingly 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.