Riccardo Ocleppo, is the Founder & Director of the Open Institute of Know-how. (OPIT). OPIT is a totally accredited Increased Schooling Establishment underneath 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 world group with 15M registered college college students and a consolidated associate of 250+ Universities and Enterprise Colleges 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 pupil in digital engineering, at all times aspiring for the very best 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 supplied many sources, 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 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 wishes of the upper training sector at the moment.
How did this expertise lead you to launching an accredited Increased Schooling Establishment?
With Docsity, we proactively collaborate and associate with greater than 250 universities and tutorial establishments worldwide in plenty of areas. The entire larger training market is fascinating, with lots occurring and lots to be finished, largely when it comes to innovating/modernizing the curricula of levels, totally embracing on-line studying, and focusing much more on purposes (and never simply principle).
With the Open Institute of Know-how (OPIT), we’re doing simply that: modern, high-quality Levels in tech fields at a really inexpensive worth.
Are you able to focus on how OPIT differentiates itself from different AI programs which can 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 methods to embed AI within the merchandise they aspire to create. We’ve got 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 necessary factor to underline is that wherever we discuss AI, we additionally embed the ideas of ethics, duty and human-centeredness.
OPIT affords a Grasp’s Diploma (MSc) in Accountable Synthetic Intelligence. Are you able to focus on why accountable AI must 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 are going to code and create.
This system affords robust 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 initiatives. 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 handle the hole between theoretical data 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 because the very starting. First, we employed prime academicians and professors who mix robust 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 often 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 effectively versed in know-how and AI fields, they’ll higher educate college students the sensible abilities wanted as they themselves have been within the discipline with this know-how and have first-hand expertise with it.
How does OPIT make 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 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 strategy, how does this strategy apply to constructing an training platform?
When constructing a brand new Increased Schooling Establishment, you should guarantee you might have all the important thing administration onboard from day one. This rings true particularly in case 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 very 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 exterior academia to be sure you cannot solely educate principle but additionally methods to use it in follow
- Robust curiosity in OPIT and alignment with our mission
There’s a powerful deal with enterprise in most of the programs which can be provided, why ought to entrepreneurs take into account taking these programs?
Sure, even in know-how Levels, we like to offer 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 could be an ideal match to amass robust abilities from a number of angles and join with a vibrant group the place they’ll doubtless be capable of discover their future co-founders.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to be taught extra ought to go to OPIT.