Artificial Intelligence (AI) is having a profound impact on every aspect of our lives, and education is no exception. But leveraging AI to produce better learning outcomes requires intelligent strategies directed by experienced educational professionals. This is what the Open Institute of Technology (OPIT) is working to achieve with its new OPIT AI Copilot.
OPIT is a pioneering global online university that delivers accessible and flexible courses designed to prepare people for future careers in which technology is constantly improving and evolving. And OPIT AI Copilot is now part of this, helping students manage their course load and personalize their learning, while teaching AI applications in practice.
OPIT’s Vision
OPIT was founded to fill a gap in the education market, as traditional university courses struggle to keep pace with fast-changing technology. It builds its curriculum around current cutting-edge technology and staffs its faculty with experts who are not just teachers but also active, leading professionals in the field of artificial intelligence. This is in addition to courses that combine theory with practical application.
OPIT also believes that education should be accessible for all. Their flexible online approach means that busy professionals can study while continuing their careers, and everyone can access quality education no matter where they are in the world. OPIT serves more than 350 students from 80 countries, including emerging nations like Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.
OPIT AI Copilot is part of this vision. The groundbreaking AI agent acts as a personal tutor, available 24/7, bridging time zones and providing real-time support. The agent also can personalize how it delivers content, adapting it based on the needs of the student, including their preferred learning style, pre-existing knowledge, learning pace, preferred language, and more. This is a major step toward overcoming the issue of the prevalent “one-size-fits-all” approach to education, which may be practical for teaching large groups but is an ineffective approach to learning.
Training and Development
The effectiveness of education AI agents depends on the quality and breadth of their training material. OPIT AI Copilot stands out for being trained on OPIT’s entire education archive. This includes 3,500 hours of video content from 131 courses, plus 3,000 proprietary documents, including 320 certified assessments.
Developed by an in-house team of dedicated faculty, engineers, and researchers, the OPIT AI Copilot is one of the first deeply integrated AI systems of its kind in a European institution. In-house development ensures that the AI agent is aligned with OPIT’s educational philosophy and approaches.
Capabilities and Features
OPIT AI Copilot is designed to be a dynamic and multi-faceted assistant with a wide range of functionality. Principal among them are:
- Personalized Learning Support: OPIT AI Copilot provides real-time, personalized guidance that adapts to a student’s progress. It can link directly to relevant sources within the virtual learning environment and adjust its support based on where the student is in their course modules. It avoids revealing information from unreleased modules, ensuring a structured and integrated learning experience.
- Contextual Assistance: As well as drawing from existing material, OPIT AI Copilot can generate content to deepen the learning experience, such as code samples and practice exams. It can also answer questions posed by the student, with responses grounded in the official course materials.
- Academic Integrity during Exams: During examinations, OPIT AI Copilot automatically shifts into “anti-cheating mode,” during which it restricts direct answers on exam topics and functions solely as a basic research tool, promoting self-driven learning and ensuring academic integrity.
- 24/7 Availability: The AI assistant operates and interacts continuously, providing round-the-clock support, which is invaluable for students across different time zones.
Benefits for Students: Enhanced Learning and Support
Having access to OPIT’s AI Copilot as a dedicated learning assistant has various benefits for students engaged in one of OPIT’s courses:
- Personalized Learning Journey: Students receive tailored support that adapts to their individual pace and learning style.
- Instant Access to Information: Immediate feedback promotes faster learning and boosts motivation, leading students to achieve better learning results.
- Improved Study Habits: Features like exam simulations and the ability to download summaries and concept maps empower students to study more effectively.
- Flexibility for Working Professionals: 24/7 availability and adaptive learning modes are particularly beneficial for students juggling study around other commitments such as work and family.
Benefits for Teachers and Faculty
While we often focus on the benefit for students, OPIT AI Copilot also benefits teachers and faculty to do their jobs better.
- Automated Grading: Automated grading of multiple-choice and single-answer exams lets students get their results immediately. The agent can also provide preliminary grades on longer written exams, assessing structure and grammar, and checking for the inclusion of key concepts. This again gives students immediate feedback while waiting for final marks and gives teachers an unbiased guide to help them verify that they are grading fairly.
- Generation of Learning Materials: Teachers can leverage OPIT AI Copilot to generate new learning materials, quizzes, and feedback rubrics, based on the core materials that they have prepared and gathered. They can also use the tool to find related new publications and materials for review and possible inclusion in the course. This saves teachers time as they expand and refine their curriculum materials.
- Scalability: The AI system allows OPIT to scale its educational offerings and support services more effectively, accommodating a growing international student body without a proportional increase in human resources.
- Pioneering Educational Technology: By integrating such an advanced AI system, OPIT positions itself as a leader in educational technology, attracting students and faculty who are keen on innovation and future-proof learning models.
OPIT AI Copilot currently saves teachers up to 30% of their time, allowing them and other faculty to focus on activities such as personalized instruction, one-on-one mentorship, refining teaching methodologies, fostering deeper student engagement, and exploring innovative pedagogical approaches.
The Future of Education With OPIT AI Copilot
The launch of OPIT AI Copilot, unveiled at Microsoft’s “AI Agents and the Future of Higher Education” event in Milan, marked a significant milestone in online education. As Professor Francesco Profumo, Rector of OPIT and former Italian Minister of Education, aptly put it, “AI is no longer just a tool: it’s an environment, a context that radically changes how we learn, teach, and create.” He emphasized that while AI offers immense potential, it also presents a cultural, ethical, and pedagogical challenge that requires courage to rethink traditional models and build solid bridges between human and artificial intelligence.
Riccardo Ocleppo, founder and director of OPIT, reinforced this vision: “We want to put technology at the service of higher education. We’re ready to develop solutions not only for our students, but also to share with other global institutions that are eager to innovate the learning experience, to face a future in education that’s fast approaching.”
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From the same author
Read the articleFrom personalization to productivity: AI at the heart of the educational experience.
Click this link to read and download the e-book.
At its core, teaching is a simple endeavour. The experienced and learned pass on their knowledge and wisdom to new generations. Nothing has changed in that regard. What has changed is how new technologies emerge to facilitate that passing on of knowledge. The printing press, computers, the internet – all have transformed how educators teach and how students learn.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the next game-changer in the educational space.
Specifically, AI agents have emerged as tools that utilize all of AI’s core strengths, such as data gathering and analysis, pattern identification, and information condensing. Those strengths have been refined, first into simple chatbots capable of providing answers, and now into agents capable of adapting how they learn and adjusting to the environment in which they’re placed. This adaptability, in particular, makes AI agents vital in the educational realm.
The reasons why are simple. AI agents can collect, analyse, and condense massive amounts of educational material across multiple subject areas. More importantly, they can deliver that information to students while observing how the students engage with the material presented. Those observations open the door for tweaks. An AI agent learns alongside their student. Only, the agent’s learning focuses on how it can adapt its delivery to account for a student’s strengths, weaknesses, interests, and existing knowledge.
Think of an AI agent like having a tutor – one who eschews set lesson plans in favour of an adaptive approach designed and tweaked constantly for each specific student.
In this eBook, the Open Institute of Technology (OPIT) will take you on a journey through the world of AI agents as they pertain to education. You will learn what these agents are, how they work, and what they’re capable of achieving in the educational sector. We also explore best practices and key approaches, focusing on how educators can use AI agents to the benefit of their students. Finally, we will discuss other AI tools that both complement and enhance an AI agent’s capabilities, ensuring you deliver the best possible educational experience to your students.
Read the articleThe Open Institute of Technology (OPIT) began enrolling students in 2023 to help bridge the skills gap between traditional university education and the requirements of the modern workplace. OPIT’s MSc courses aim to help professionals make a greater impact on their workplace through technology.
OPIT’s courses have become popular with business leaders hoping to develop a strong technical foundation to understand technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity, that are shaping their industry. But OPIT is also attracting professionals with strong technical expertise looking to engage more deeply with the strategic side of digital innovation. This is the story of one such student, Obiora Awogu.
Meet Obiora
Obiora Awogu is a cybersecurity expert from Nigeria with a wealth of credentials and experience from working in the industry for a decade. Working in a lead data security role, he was considering “what’s next” for his career. He was contemplating earning an MSc to add to his list of qualifications he did not yet have, but which could open important doors. He discussed the idea with his mentor, who recommended OPIT, where he himself was already enrolled in an MSc program.
Obiora started looking at the program as a box-checking exercise, but quickly realized that it had so much more to offer. As well as being a fully EU-accredited course that could provide new opportunities with companies around the world, he recognized that the course was designed for people like him, who were ready to go from building to leading.
OPIT’s MSc in Cybersecurity
OPIT’s MSc in Cybersecurity launched in 2024 as a fully online and flexible program ideal for busy professionals like Obiora who want to study without taking a career break.
The course integrates technical and leadership expertise, equipping students to not only implement cybersecurity solutions but also lead cybersecurity initiatives. The curriculum combines technical training with real-world applications, emphasizing hands-on experience and soft skills development alongside hard technical know-how.
The course is led by Tom Vazdar, the Area Chair for Cybersecurity at OPIT, as well as the Chief Security Officer at Erste Bank Croatia and an Advisory Board Member for EC3 European Cybercrime Center. He is representative of the type of faculty OPIT recruits, who are both great teachers and active industry professionals dealing with current challenges daily.
Experts such as Matthew Jelavic, the CEO at CIM Chartered Manager Canada and President of Strategy One Consulting; Mahynour Ahmed, Senior Cloud Security Engineer at Grant Thornton LLP; and Sylvester Kaczmarek, former Chief Scientific Officer at We Space Technologies, join him.
Course content includes:
- Cybersecurity fundamentals and governance
- Network security and intrusion detection
- Legal aspects and compliance
- Cryptography and secure communications
- Data analytics and risk management
- Generative AI cybersecurity
- Business resilience and response strategies
- Behavioral cybersecurity
- Cloud and IoT security
- Secure software development
- Critical thinking and problem-solving
- Leadership and communication in cybersecurity
- AI-driven forensic analysis in cybersecurity
As with all OPIT’s MSc courses, it wraps up with a capstone project and dissertation, which sees students apply their skills in the real world, either with their existing company or through apprenticeship programs. This not only gives students hands-on experience, but also helps them demonstrate their added value when seeking new opportunities.
Obiora’s Experience
Speaking of his experience with OPIT, Obiora said that it went above and beyond what he expected. He was not surprised by the technical content, in which he was already well-versed, but rather the change in perspective that the course gave him. It helped him move from seeing himself as someone who implements cybersecurity solutions to someone who could shape strategy at the highest levels of an organization.
OPIT’s MSc has given Obiora the skills to speak to boards, connect risk with business priorities, and build organizations that don’t just defend against cyber risks but adapt to a changing digital world. He commented that studying at OPIT did not give him answers; instead, it gave him better questions and the tools to lead. Of course, it also ticks the MSc box, and while that might not be the main reason for studying at OPIT, it is certainly a clear benefit.
Obiora has now moved into a leading Chief Information Security Officer Role at MoMo, Payment Service Bank for MTN. There, he is building cyber-resilient financial systems, contributing to public-private partnerships, and mentoring the next generation of cybersecurity experts.
Leading Cybersecurity in Africa
As well as having a significant impact within his own organization, studying at OPIT has helped Obiora develop the skills and confidence needed to become a leader in the cybersecurity industry across Africa.
In March 2025, Obiora was featured on the cover of CIO Africa Magazine and was then a panelist on the “Future of Cybersecurity Careers in the Age of Generative AI” for Comercio Ltd. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry also invited him to speak on Cybersecurity in Africa.
Obiora recently presented the keynote speech at the Hackers Secret Conference 2025 on “Code in the Shadows: Harnessing the Human-AI Partnership in Cybersecurity.” In the talk, he explored how AI is revolutionizing incident response, enhancing its speed, precision, and proactivity, and improving on human-AI collaboration.
An OPIT Success Story
Talking about Obiora’s success, the OPIT Area Chair for Cybersecurity said:
“Obiora is a perfect example of what this program was designed for – experienced professionals ready to scale their impact beyond operations. It’s been inspiring to watch him transform technical excellence into strategic leadership. Africa’s cybersecurity landscape is stronger with people like him at the helm. Bravo, Obiora!”
Learn more about OPIT’s MSc in Cybersecurity and how it can support the next steps of your career.
-
Go to all authors
Related posts
From personalization to productivity: AI at the heart of the educational experience.
Click this link to read and download the e-book.
At its core, teaching is a simple endeavour. The experienced and learned pass on their knowledge and wisdom to new generations. Nothing has changed in that regard. What has changed is how new technologies emerge to facilitate that passing on of knowledge. The printing press, computers, the internet – all have transformed how educators teach and how students learn.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the next game-changer in the educational space.
Specifically, AI agents have emerged as tools that utilize all of AI’s core strengths, such as data gathering and analysis, pattern identification, and information condensing. Those strengths have been refined, first into simple chatbots capable of providing answers, and now into agents capable of adapting how they learn and adjusting to the environment in which they’re placed. This adaptability, in particular, makes AI agents vital in the educational realm.
The reasons why are simple. AI agents can collect, analyse, and condense massive amounts of educational material across multiple subject areas. More importantly, they can deliver that information to students while observing how the students engage with the material presented. Those observations open the door for tweaks. An AI agent learns alongside their student. Only, the agent’s learning focuses on how it can adapt its delivery to account for a student’s strengths, weaknesses, interests, and existing knowledge.
Think of an AI agent like having a tutor – one who eschews set lesson plans in favour of an adaptive approach designed and tweaked constantly for each specific student.
In this eBook, the Open Institute of Technology (OPIT) will take you on a journey through the world of AI agents as they pertain to education. You will learn what these agents are, how they work, and what they’re capable of achieving in the educational sector. We also explore best practices and key approaches, focusing on how educators can use AI agents to the benefit of their students. Finally, we will discuss other AI tools that both complement and enhance an AI agent’s capabilities, ensuring you deliver the best possible educational experience to your students.
The Open Institute of Technology (OPIT) began enrolling students in 2023 to help bridge the skills gap between traditional university education and the requirements of the modern workplace. OPIT’s MSc courses aim to help professionals make a greater impact on their workplace through technology.
OPIT’s courses have become popular with business leaders hoping to develop a strong technical foundation to understand technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity, that are shaping their industry. But OPIT is also attracting professionals with strong technical expertise looking to engage more deeply with the strategic side of digital innovation. This is the story of one such student, Obiora Awogu.
Meet Obiora
Obiora Awogu is a cybersecurity expert from Nigeria with a wealth of credentials and experience from working in the industry for a decade. Working in a lead data security role, he was considering “what’s next” for his career. He was contemplating earning an MSc to add to his list of qualifications he did not yet have, but which could open important doors. He discussed the idea with his mentor, who recommended OPIT, where he himself was already enrolled in an MSc program.
Obiora started looking at the program as a box-checking exercise, but quickly realized that it had so much more to offer. As well as being a fully EU-accredited course that could provide new opportunities with companies around the world, he recognized that the course was designed for people like him, who were ready to go from building to leading.
OPIT’s MSc in Cybersecurity
OPIT’s MSc in Cybersecurity launched in 2024 as a fully online and flexible program ideal for busy professionals like Obiora who want to study without taking a career break.
The course integrates technical and leadership expertise, equipping students to not only implement cybersecurity solutions but also lead cybersecurity initiatives. The curriculum combines technical training with real-world applications, emphasizing hands-on experience and soft skills development alongside hard technical know-how.
The course is led by Tom Vazdar, the Area Chair for Cybersecurity at OPIT, as well as the Chief Security Officer at Erste Bank Croatia and an Advisory Board Member for EC3 European Cybercrime Center. He is representative of the type of faculty OPIT recruits, who are both great teachers and active industry professionals dealing with current challenges daily.
Experts such as Matthew Jelavic, the CEO at CIM Chartered Manager Canada and President of Strategy One Consulting; Mahynour Ahmed, Senior Cloud Security Engineer at Grant Thornton LLP; and Sylvester Kaczmarek, former Chief Scientific Officer at We Space Technologies, join him.
Course content includes:
- Cybersecurity fundamentals and governance
- Network security and intrusion detection
- Legal aspects and compliance
- Cryptography and secure communications
- Data analytics and risk management
- Generative AI cybersecurity
- Business resilience and response strategies
- Behavioral cybersecurity
- Cloud and IoT security
- Secure software development
- Critical thinking and problem-solving
- Leadership and communication in cybersecurity
- AI-driven forensic analysis in cybersecurity
As with all OPIT’s MSc courses, it wraps up with a capstone project and dissertation, which sees students apply their skills in the real world, either with their existing company or through apprenticeship programs. This not only gives students hands-on experience, but also helps them demonstrate their added value when seeking new opportunities.
Obiora’s Experience
Speaking of his experience with OPIT, Obiora said that it went above and beyond what he expected. He was not surprised by the technical content, in which he was already well-versed, but rather the change in perspective that the course gave him. It helped him move from seeing himself as someone who implements cybersecurity solutions to someone who could shape strategy at the highest levels of an organization.
OPIT’s MSc has given Obiora the skills to speak to boards, connect risk with business priorities, and build organizations that don’t just defend against cyber risks but adapt to a changing digital world. He commented that studying at OPIT did not give him answers; instead, it gave him better questions and the tools to lead. Of course, it also ticks the MSc box, and while that might not be the main reason for studying at OPIT, it is certainly a clear benefit.
Obiora has now moved into a leading Chief Information Security Officer Role at MoMo, Payment Service Bank for MTN. There, he is building cyber-resilient financial systems, contributing to public-private partnerships, and mentoring the next generation of cybersecurity experts.
Leading Cybersecurity in Africa
As well as having a significant impact within his own organization, studying at OPIT has helped Obiora develop the skills and confidence needed to become a leader in the cybersecurity industry across Africa.
In March 2025, Obiora was featured on the cover of CIO Africa Magazine and was then a panelist on the “Future of Cybersecurity Careers in the Age of Generative AI” for Comercio Ltd. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry also invited him to speak on Cybersecurity in Africa.
Obiora recently presented the keynote speech at the Hackers Secret Conference 2025 on “Code in the Shadows: Harnessing the Human-AI Partnership in Cybersecurity.” In the talk, he explored how AI is revolutionizing incident response, enhancing its speed, precision, and proactivity, and improving on human-AI collaboration.
An OPIT Success Story
Talking about Obiora’s success, the OPIT Area Chair for Cybersecurity said:
“Obiora is a perfect example of what this program was designed for – experienced professionals ready to scale their impact beyond operations. It’s been inspiring to watch him transform technical excellence into strategic leadership. Africa’s cybersecurity landscape is stronger with people like him at the helm. Bravo, Obiora!”
Learn more about OPIT’s MSc in Cybersecurity and how it can support the next steps of your career.
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