University of Bologna and CRIF renew their partnership for another five years

The framework agreement between the University of Bologna (Unibo) and CRIF, a global company with headquarters in Bologna and specializing in credit and business information systems, outsourcing and processing services, and credit solutions, has been renewed for another five years. This partnership has been in place for many years and spans different areas of research, including economics, science, and technology. The partnership guarantees students a practical opportunity to experience the world of work in a business of international renown such as CRIF, where innovation is continuous, and where the use of the most advanced technologies and the culture of information management are intrinsic characteristics of the company’s DNA and the basis of significant R&D investments.

The partnership between the University and the company offers a real gateway for students who are coming to the end of their education and entering the world of work, using channels such as careers days and recruitment fairs organized by the University of Bologna, presenting business testimonials as part of various degree and master’s courses and, above all, offering company internships. As far as teaching is concerned, the CRIF-Unibo partnership has led to the creation of important and fruitful educational and scientific projects.

Specifically, the Level II Master’s in “Quantitative Risk Management” was established in 2017, from the collaboration between CRIF and the Department of Statistical and Economic Sciences at the University of Bologna, with the aim of training experts in the risk management of financial intermediaries, providing skills to deal with emerging aspects in risk measurement and management, including Big Data analysis.

With the same goals, the Level I Master’s in “Cybersecurity: from design to operations” was launched in 2018, in collaboration with the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, with the aim of training cybersecurity experts in hardware-software infrastructures within a business context for the management of critical systems and data processing.
For both Master’s, CRIF makes grants available to support the most deserving students, as well as providing highly vocational internships as part of the educational process.

Also in 2018, CRIF provided the Postgraduate School in Data Science and Computation with a sponsored grant in the field of Big Data, emphasizing its interest in promoting high-level training in the field of Data Science, given the central role of this area within the Group.

At the end of 2019, CRIF, in collaboration with the University of Bologna, organized a Hackathon on the subject of “Open Banking Innovation”, with the participation of 50 undergraduates and graduates from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DISI). This was a 24-hour non-stop event where the participating students, divided into teams and supported by experts from CRIF Global Technologies, competed to define and solve a business case on the subject of open banking. CRIF awarded the winning team a prize worth € 5,000.

With the renewal of the partnership, new initiatives will be planned that will also involve the fields of research & innovation, technology transfer, internationalization, development cooperation, and sustainability. In addition, the method of teaching and how the Master’s in “Quantitative Risk Management” and “Cyber Security: from design to operations” will be run in 2020-2021 are currently being decided. The courses will start between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021.