Times of Malta: Students from across the globe graduate in hybrid ceremony in Valletta
Source:
- Times of Malta, published on March 18th, 2025
The Open Institute of Technology held its first-ever graduation ceremony in Valletta earlier this month, with students joining in person and virtually from across the globe.
The hybrid ceremony marked the successful completion of the Master of Science in Applied Data Science and Artificial Intelligence program by 20 OPIT graduates.
OPIT is a disruptive tech-focused higher education institution based in Malta.
With over 300 students from 78 countries, the institute offers EU-accredited undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in a variety of fields from game development, cyber security, and artificial intelligence.
The graduation ceremony was presided by Prof. Francesco Profumo, Rector of OPIT, and a former Education Minister of Italy.
He was joined by Ricardo Ocleppo, founder of OPIT, as well as Rose Anne Cuschieri, CEO of the Malta Further & Higher Education Authority (MFHEA).
“Our first ever graduation marks a new chapter not just for OPIT, but, and most importantly, for our graduates,” said Prof. Francesco Profumo.
OPIT’s approach to education integrates hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology, offering a practice-oriented curriculum that bridges the gap between theory and application.
Ricardo Ocleppo, founder of OPIT.
OPIT’s high-profile international teaching staff have been recruited from some of the best universities in the world, including Tier-1 institutes in the US, UK, Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Poland, Lebanon, and Spain.
On his part, Ricardo Ocleppo shared his reflections on how OPIT is dedicated to producing graduates who are not only job-ready but also prepared to lead the way in an ever-changing technological landscape.
Both Ocleppo and Profumo say they are on a mission to unlock students’ progress and employment on a global scale by providing high-quality and affordable education – a model based on the need for quality, flexibility, inclusivity, and the acquisition of crucial skills in future-ready sectors such as Artificial Intelligence.
OPIT’s student-centric approach delivers a combination of online learning and interactive discussions within a collaborative environment fostering advancement and innovation, including live lessons, masterclasses, videos, quizzes, exercises, and more internally developed digital content that students can access at any time.
With several students and faculty joining remotely, the ceremony also saw graduates present their capstone projects, many of which exhibit real-world applications of emerging technology.
More information about OPIT is available here.