The college started as Abilonino community polytechnic instructors’ college (ACPIC) was established in 2002 among 11 other colleges to address the scarcity of instructors in the BTVET subsector by the Government of Uganda. Prior to this, only Kyambogo Polytechnic provided pedagogical skills in technical and vocational education training (TVET) instructors’ courses. When the rest of the colleges were closed shortly after, only Abilonino remained the only institution for pre-service training for technical teachers and instructors in the BTVET system. This year, the college has been changed to a National Instructors’ College (NIC) by the Ministry of Education and Sports and it is expected to train technical teachers/ instructors for technical schools and farm schools. With most of the planned Community Polytechnics not being built and commissioned, many of the Abilonino graduates now find employment in other BTVET institutions, both government and private, including Technical Schools, Farm Schools, Technical Institutes, Vocational Training Centers, and others. 

The College is located in Kole District, which was formerly part of Lira district in northern Uganda, approximately 200 km north of Kampala and 15 kilometres away from the KampalaLira highway. The program offered is a two-year Diploma in Technical Teacher Education (DTTE) that turns out around 100 graduates every year. Candidates selected for this course are skill bearers who have already acquired practical skills to the level of advanced certificate or its equivalent in business, technical vocational education and training plus teaching/or industrial experience of at least two years. 

The trainees are registered for the award of Diploma in Technical Teacher Education of Kyambogo University and therefore registration follows the regulations of Kyambogo University. The minimum requirement is an advanced Craft Certificate in Technical Education (CCTE). 

However, the 2012 survey reported that students’ technical skills are often minimal as acknowledged by the college administration Despite its many inadequacies, there are many more applicants for entrance to Abilonino than can be enrolled, for example, according to an earlier situation analysis done in 2012, it was reported that there were 256 applicants in the year 2010. 

Programs range from one year of study to two years with individual courses that include: Civil engineering, Agriculture, Home economics, Tailoring and Braiding, Carpentry and Joinery, 2 Mechanical and Electrical engineering, Brick Laying and Concrete Practice, Motor Vehicle Technology, Plumbing, Painting and Decoration. The college is a fully government owned institution and it falls directly under the MoES. Within the ministry, the College is under the department of Teachers and Instructors Education and Training, TIET. At the moment, the college has no standing management or organizational structure. 

It is being managed through a temporary provision by the Ministry of Public Service. The currently used structure has the Governing Council headed by a Chairperson. The Council is concerned with making policies and seeing to it that the college moves on a planned course. Second in command is the College management team headed by the Principal and the rest of the staff occupying different positions such as deputy principals, registrars, bursar, director of studies and heads of department. 

NIC Abilonino is one of the four colleges in Uganda that is benefiting from the grant that the Government of Uganda received from the Kingdom of Belgium to finance the Ugandan-Belgian project “Improving the training for BTVET technical teachers/instructors, health tutors and secondary teachers” (Teacher Training Education – TTE project). The project is jointly executed by the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) and the Belgian Development Agency (BTC) since December 2011 up to December 2016. 

The objective of the project is to provide an improved student cantered teaching, and practice-oriented learning environment, supported by a strengthened support supervision and visitation (inspection) service from the central level. The aims of the project include; strengthening the teacher education system in the areas of communication, support supervision and visitation, strategic management and lecturers’ qualifications; strengthening the management capacity of the supported colleges; improving the quality of teaching and learning in the supported colleges and rehabilitating, extending and equipping the college facilities. It is on the basis of the TTE project support that this strategic plan was funded specifically to improve the strategic management and organization of the College