National Certificate in Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Cold Chain
Cooling is where Uganda's food, medicine and comfort economies meet, and all three are short of technicians.
Occupational profile
What you'll be paid to do
Cooling is where Uganda's food, medicine and comfort economies meet, and all three are short of technicians.
Agro exporters lose produce to broken cold chains; health programmes maintain thousands of vaccine refrigerators with a thin technician corps; hotels, shops and offices install air conditioning faster than anyone services it; and the refrigerant phase down under international law is creating demand for exactly the lawful, trained handling this certificate teaches.
The graduate works as any of the following, employed or self employed, wherever things must stay cold: technician retailers, dairies, fisheries, monthly; per job rates self own service round employed technician services firms, hotels monthly pharmaceutical monthly; a national priority Commercial plant Supermarkets, processors, UGX 500,000 to 950,000
| Occupation | Where the work is | Starting earnings, observed 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Refrigeration service technician | Service companies, retailers, dairies, fisheries, own service round | UGX 400,000 to 850,000 monthly; per job rates self employed |
| Air conditioning installation technician | AC contractors, building services firms, hotels | UGX 450,000 to 900,000 monthly |
The 90-Day Promise
From certification to income, stated concretely
Day Pathway Named employer categories with which the College holds or is concluding placement and hiring partnerships: refrigeration and AC contractors; supermarket, dairy, fishery and processor maintenance departments; health cohort's year two training, each offering at least two placements.
The ninety day pathway from certification to income:
Day 0: graduation with the Capability Transcript, the mentor's reference, a reconciled refrigerant log as proof of lawful habit, and the exit project as portfolio.
Days 1 to 30: employed route: three arranged interviews with placement hosts who supervised the graduate across two years; cold chain employers prioritised for graduates strong in RAC202.
Day 0: graduation with the Capability Transcript, the mentor's reference, a reconciled refrigerant log as proof of lawful habit, and the exit project as portfolio.
Days 1 to 30: employed route: three arranged interviews with placement hosts who supervised the graduate across two years; cold chain employers prioritised for graduates strong in RAC202. Self employed route: the service book continues trading; the mentor reviews month one.
Days 31 to 90: employed route: probation support from the practice tutor. Self employed route: referral listing for partner overflow service and the College's own plant, standing terms in the partnerships.
Measurement: employment or trading status recorded at day 90 and published in the annual outcomes report, per Part Two, section 2.9.
Programme structure
Every module, with its arithmetic
One credit unit equals ten notional learning hours. 240 credit units, 2400 notional hours: 580 contact, 1420 practical and 330 industrial hours, so practical and industrial hours are 73 per cent of the programme.
h Law on and nts and and ng n One ial and on ng s nce and Two ent Practical and industrial hours together are 1750 of 2400 notional hours, 73 per cent, meeting the hands on test.
Semester 1
| Code | Module | CU | Contact h | Practical h | Industry h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAC101 | Safety, Refrigerants and the LawRefrigeration work handles pressurised gases, electricity and chemicals governed by international law. The learner is made safe and lawful before touching a system, and refrigerant discipline stays assessed everywhere. | 10 | 40 | 60 | 0 |
| RAC102 | Refrigeration Principles and ComponentsThe cycle understood is the fault found. The learner masters the vapour compression cycle through gauges, temperatures and the components on the bench, not through algebra. | 14 | 60 | 80 | 0 |
| RAC103 | Tools, Brazing and Pipework for RACRefrigeration lives or dies at its joints. The learner earns the trade's pipework craft: flaring, bending and brazing to leak free, nitrogen clean standard. | 12 | 30 | 90 | 0 |
| COM101 | Communication and Workplace SkillsTechnicians rise or stall on how they speak, write, listen and behave on site. Taught through the trade's own situations, never as abstract English. | 6 | 30 | 15 | 0 |
Semester 2
| Code | Module | CU | Contact h | Practical h | Industry h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAC104 | Domestic Refrigeration ServiceFridges and freezers in every home and | 14 | 30 | 110 | 0 |
| RAC105 | Split Air Conditioning InstallationThe trade's biggest installation market: split systems in homes, offices and shops, | 16 | 30 | 130 | 0 |
| RAC106 | Electrical Systems for RACMost refrigeration faults present electrically. The learner masters the trade's electrical layer: motors, starters, controls and the safe interface with supply. | 12 | 40 | 80 | 0 |
| RAC107 | Recovery, Evacuation and Charging PracticeThe lawful core of every sealed system job, drilled to habit: recover, evacuate, weigh, charge, record, on every system type in the workshop. | 8 | 15 | 65 | 0 |
| SPN701AI spine | AI Tools and DataThe spine applied to cooling: remote monitoring, AI fault triage, energy analytics and the temperature records that food and medicine law depend on. | 8 | 30 | 40 | 0 |
| ITR701 | Industrial Training OneTen assessed weeks with a refrigeration contractor or service company at the end of year one, under the Part Two policy. | 16 | 0 | 10 | 150 |
Semester 3
| Code | Module | CU | Contact h | Practical h | Industry h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAC201 | Commercial Refrigeration and Cold RoomsYear two's core: the commercial plant that keeps shops, dairies, fisheries and exporters in business, built, commissioned and kept running by the learner's hands. | 20 | 45 | 155 | 0 |
| RAC202 | Cold Chain Systems and Transport RefrigerationThe national priority module: the unbroken chain from farm and factory to clinic and shelf, including the vaccine chain and the refrigerated transport that links it all. | 16 | 40 | 120 | 0 |
| RAC203 | Air Conditioning Systems: Multi Split, VRF and Ducted BasicsBeyond the single split: the systems of hotels, offices and institutions, serviced at certificate level with the boundaries to diploma work made clear. | 14 | 40 | 100 | 0 |
Semester 4
| Code | Module | CU | Contact h | Practical h | Industry h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RAC204 | Controls, Diagnostics and ElectronicsModern cooling is electronics wrapped around a compressor. The learner reads controllers, tests sensors and diagnoses inverter era plant with instrument logic. | 14 | 45 | 95 | 0 |
| RAC205 | Maintenance Contracts and Energy EfficiencyThe business end of cooling: maintenance sold as stock protection, and efficiency sold as money, both delivered with records that prove it. | 10 | 30 | 70 | 0 |
| RAC206 | Solar and Backup Power for Cold ChainCooling that must not stop in a grid that does: solar direct drive refrigeration, battery backup and generator practice for the cold chain, shared with FC-C01's | 8 | 20 | 60 | 0 |
| ENT101 | Trade EntrepreneurshipHalf of Forward College graduates will employ themselves first. This module turns a trade into a business without romance: costs, customers, cash and compliance. | 6 | 25 | 20 | 0 |
| SPN102AI spine | Digital Work and Platform IncomeThe shortest module with the fastest payback: how a technician finds customers, prices work, invoices and gets paid through digital channels. | 4 | 15 | 20 | 0 |
| ITR702 | Industrial Training TwoTwelve assessed weeks in year two at improver level with a host project, under the Part Two policy. | 20 | 0 | 10 | 180 |
| EXP701 | Exit Venture or Employment ProjectThe closing argument, specified in section 11: a cooling service venture trading, or a complete commercial or cold chain project delivered, defended in the oral examination room. | 12 | 15 | 90 | 0 |
The AI and Digital Practice Spine
AI, taught inside this trade
Applied Here The spine of Part Two, section 2.13, applied to cooling: 12 credit units across controllers and the judgement strand by the sacred records of RAC202.
AI tools for my trade
The actual AI software entering the occupation, used on real tasks.
Data in my trade
Collecting, reading and acting on the trade's own data.
Working with automation
Operating alongside machines and software that do part of the job.
Judgement, ethics and safety
What must never be delegated to a machine.
Digital work and platform income
Finding customers, pricing, invoicing and getting paid digitally.
Learning outcomes
What the graduate can do
- PLO 1
Handle refrigerants lawfully: recover, never vent, log and reconcile, under the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment duties
Level 3: works within regulation with responsibility
- PLO 2
Braze, test and evacuate refrigeration pipework to leak free, deep vacuum standard
Level 3: precision task performance to standard
- PLO 3
Diagnose and repair domestic refrigeration including lawful sealed system work
Level 3: solves routine problems by known methods
- PLO 4
Install and commission split and multi split air conditioning to manufacturer standard
Level 3: broad skilled task performance
- PLO 5
Build, commission and maintain commercial refrigeration and cold rooms
Level 3: performs whole tasks with responsibility
- PLO 6
Install, service and document medical, vaccine and transport cold chain to programme standards
Level 3: quality and record responsible performance
- PLO 7
Diagnose electrically and electronically: motors, controls, sensors and controllers
Level 3: uses instruments and known methods effectively
- PLO 8
Integrate solar direct drive and backup power for cooling resilience
Level 3: applies known solutions across contexts
- PLO 9
Deliver maintenance contracts and energy improvements with measured, honest records
Level 3: works to specification with responsibility
- PLO 10
Apply pressurised, electrical and flammable refrigerant safety without exception
Level 3: responsibility for safety of self and others
- PLO 11
Use monitoring, AI triage and data tools, verifying before acting
Level 3: uses workplace technology effectively
- PLO 12
Communicate, quote and operate as a compliant technician or business
Level 3: works independently within scope
Entry routes
Four ways in
- Academic route. Uganda Certificate of Education with a pass in mathematics or physics preferred; the access assessment admits without them.
- Vocational route. A relevant lower TVET certificate or completed electrical or mechanical course.
- Recognition of prior learning. Practising refrigeration technicians assess against the outcomes; the common result credits domestic and split work and the learner completes lawful handling, commercial plant and the spine, exactly the gap the phase down exposes.
- Mature age route. Applicants of twenty five and above enter through the access assessment of literacy, numeracy and trade aptitude.
Industrial training
Assessed weeks inside a working organisation
- Duration and placement
- Ten weeks in year one (ITR701, 16 credit units, 150 hours minimum) and twelve weeks in year two (ITR702, 20 credit units, 180 hours minimum).
- Host organisation types
- Refrigeration and air conditioning contractors, supermarket and processor maintenance departments, health programme cold chain units, pharmaceutical and food logistics firms, hotel engineering departments, and equipment distributors.
- Learning objectives
- Year one: domestic, split and pipework service under supervision. Year two: commercial plant, cold chain and contract work with increasing lead responsibility and a host project.
- Supervision
- A named host supervisor technician; the practice tutor visits at least twice per placement; escalation within three days per the Part Two policy.
- Logbook
- Daily entries against the objectives, countersigned weekly by the host supervisor, reviewed by the practice tutor at each visit, kept on the platform.
- Assessment
- Joint workplace assessment against the practice rubric each year, plus logbooks and the year two host project.
Assessment and certification
Continuous practical, plus UVTAB
A human assessor confirms every AI-avatar oral examination result before it stands, and the trainer who taught a learner never marks that learner's summative assessment.
- Internal continuous assessment, 60 per cent: workshop task assessments, module projects, logbooks and oral checkpoints, marked under the separation rule of Part Two.
- UVTAB external assessment, 40 per cent: the Board's written and practical occupational assessments for this qualification, taken at the gazetted sittings.
- Practical competency assessment: every practical outcome is assessed by observed performance against published criteria; evidence is retained.
- Oral examination option: any module checkpoint and the exit project defence may be taken in the AI avatar oral examination room, with human confirmation of every result.
- Grading scale: Distinction 80 to 100; Credit 65 to 79; Pass 50 to 64; Not Yet Competent below 50, with the right to reassessment.
- Pass and progression: every core module at Pass or above, all practical competencies demonstrated, industrial training completed, exit project at Pass or above.
- Resit rules: two reassessment opportunities per module without repeating attendance; a third attempt repeats the module; reassessment covers only the outcomes not yet demonstrated.
Exit project
A real venture, or a real employer brief
Venture route: launch a cooling service business: the ENT101 demand study, registration, a live profile, at least six real paying jobs including one twelve month cash plan.
Employment route: deliver a complete commercial quotation through installation, commissioning, documentation and handover with a maintenance plan, to employer standard.
Deliverables:
The project file: survey, design, quotation, and for the venture route the demand study, registration and contract evidence The physical work: the installations or service book, inspected against the checklists The lawful record: refrigerant log reconciled; temperature and commissioning records complete The defence: presentation and oral examination, human confirmed Grading criterion Weight What excellent looks like Technical quality 30% Plant reaches and holds records reconciled, cold chain viability costs complete; the Safety 10% Zero violations; flammable Defence 10% Every decision explained
- The project file: survey, design, quotation, and for the venture route the demand study, registration and contract evidence
- The physical work: the installations or service book, inspected against the checklists
- The lawful record: refrigerant log reconciled; temperature and commissioning records complete
- The defence: presentation and oral examination, human confirmed Grading criterion Weight What excellent looks like Technical quality 30% Plant reaches and holds records reconciled, cold chain viability costs complete; the Safety 10% Zero violations; flammable Defence 10% Every decision explained
Progression
Where this qualification leads next
No Forward College learner ever meets a dead end.
Within Forward College: graduates enter FC-D05, Biomedical Equipment Technology, with cognate credits in the medical refrigeration modules, or FC- D02's energy pathway for the resilience specialism, and FC-H02's industrial automation pathway thereafter.
Into Forward University: the staircase runs through the cognate diplomas and higher diplomas into the University's engineering degrees, with credit transfer of up to one third under the Part Two, section 2.12 equivalence tables.