National Certificate in Computer Systems and Network Support
The Digital Uganda Vision is digitising schools, SACCOs, clinics, government offices and businesses faster than anyone is training the people who keep digital things working.
Occupational profile
What you'll be paid to do
The Digital Uganda Vision is digitising schools, SACCOs, clinics, government offices and businesses faster than anyone is training the people who keep digital things working.
Every organisation that buys computers, connectivity and business systems needs affordable support within reach, and outside Kampala that support barely exists as a profession.
This certificate trains the first responder of the digital economy.
The graduate works as any of the following, employed or self employed, everywhere a computer switches on:
Computer repair Repair shops, dealers, own UGX 350,000 to 700,000 technician bench monthly; bench rates self technician connectivity projects monthly; per site rates Help desk agent Telecoms, banks, service UGX 400,000 to 750,000 centres monthly, formal
| Occupation | Where the work is | Starting earnings, observed 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| IT support technician | Organisations of every kind, IT service providers, schools | UGX 400,000 to 800,000 monthly |
| Computer repair technician | Repair shops, dealers, own bench | UGX 350,000 to 700,000 monthly; bench rates self employed |
| Network installation technician | ISPs, integrators, connectivity projects | UGX 450,000 to 850,000 monthly; per site rates |
| Help desk agent | Telecoms, banks, service centres | UGX 400,000 to 750,000 monthly, formal employment at volume |
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:
IT service providers and integrators; ISPs and connectivity projects; telecom and bank help desks; school, SACCO and health network programmes; government digitisation units; and repair businesses.
Partnership target: fifteen active partners by the first cohort's The ninety day pathway from certification to income:
Day 0: graduation with the Capability Transcript, the mentor's reference, the documented exit project as portfolio, and a term of real help desk tickets to show.
Day 0: graduation with the Capability Transcript, the mentor's reference, the documented exit project as portfolio, and a term of real help desk tickets to show.
Days 1 to 30: employed route: three arranged interviews; help desks and ISPs hire at volume against exactly the desk record the graduate carries. Self employed route: the support agreements continue; 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 site work and school laboratory contracts, 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. 120 credit units, 1200 notional hours: 350 contact, 665 practical and 150 industrial hours, so practical and industrial hours are 68 per cent of the programme.
h al and and g and and the n ent Practical and industrial hours together are 815 of 1200 notional hours, 68 per cent, meeting the hands on test.
Semester 1
| Code | Module | CU | Contact h | Practical h | Industry h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICT101 | Safe Working, ESD and Professional ConductTechnicians damage equipment through static and damage trust through carelessness with other people's data. The learner starts safe on both fronts. | 4 | 15 | 25 | 0 |
| ICT102 | ComputerThe physical trade: the learner builds, upgrades and repairs desktops and laptops to component level confidence, on the machines Ugandan offices and homes actually run. | 14 | 40 | 100 | 0 |
| ICT103 | Operating Systems and Software Support | 12 | 40 | 80 | 0 |
| ICT104 | Networking Fundamentals and CablingMost support calls are software: the learner installs, configures, rescues and maintains the systems on Uganda's desks, Windows first, Linux capable. | 14 | 45 | 95 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICT105 | Servers, Sharing and Small Business SystemsThe small organisation's back office: file sharing, backup targets, the shared printer that behaves, and the business systems a support technician is expected to keep alive. | 10 | 35 | 65 | 0 |
| ICT106 | User Support and Help Desk PracticeSupport is a human trade: the learner runs a real help desk for the campus, with tickets, patience and the communication that turns a fixed computer into a kept customer. | 10 | 30 | 70 | 0 |
| ICT107 | Security Essentials and BackupThe certificate's shield module: the security hygiene and backup discipline that keep small organisations out of the news, and the feeder into the cybersecurity diploma. | 10 | 35 | 65 | 0 |
| SPN1001AI spine | AI Tools for the Support TechnicianThe spine applied to IT support: AI assistants for diagnosis, documentation and scripting, used with the verification discipline that keeps the technician the expert. | 8 | 30 | 40 | 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 |
| ITR1001 | Industrial TrainingTen assessed weeks with an IT support provider, ISP or organisation's IT department, under the Part Two policy. | 14 | 0 | 10 | 150 |
| EXP1001 | Exit Venture or Employment ProjectThe closing argument, specified in section 11: a support venture trading or a complete small organisation IT project delivered, defended in the oral examination room. | 8 | 10 | 60 | 0 |
The AI and Digital Practice Spine
AI, taught inside this trade
Applied Here The spine of Part Two, section 2.13, applied to IT support: 12 credit units across custody rules and ICT107's security calls.
AI tools for my trade
Diagnostic consults verified against documentation; drafted guides and scripts audited before use
Data in my trade
Ticket analytics; estate documentation; backup and restore evidence as the trade's proof
Working with automation
Imaging, scripts, monitoring and remote tools as the trade's automation, audited and run by the technician
Judgement, ethics and safety
Customer data never pasted anywhere; security decisions human; the honest quote and the honest close
Digital work and platform income
The bench profile, service contracts and mobile money, from SPN102
Learning outcomes
What the graduate can do
- PLO 1
Build, upgrade and repair desktop and laptop systems to component level
Level 3: skilled task performance to standard
- PLO 2
Install, configure, rescue and migrate operating systems and applications
Level 3: applies known solutions with responsibility
- PLO 3
Install, certify and troubleshoot copper cabling and small network infrastructure
Level 3: performs whole tasks to standard
- PLO 4
Configure routers, switches, wireless and small servers for working organisations
Level 3: operates workplace systems with responsibility
- PLO 5
Support business systems, accounts and the small IT estate with documentation
Level 3: works to specification with responsibility
- PLO 6
Run ticketed user support with honesty, patience and correct escalation
Level 3: communicates and works with others effectively
- PLO 7
Apply security hygiene and tested backup as default practice
Level 3: works within regulation with responsibility
- PLO 8
Apply ESD, electrical and data custody safety without exception
Level 3: responsibility for safety and property of others
- PLO 9
Use AI assistance with verification and audit discipline
Level 3: uses workplace technology effectively
- PLO 10
Quote, record and advise customers honestly
Level 3: communicates across familiar contexts
- PLO 11
Operate as a compliant self employed technician or productive employee
Level 3: works independently within scope
Entry routes
Four ways in
- Academic route. Uganda Certificate of Education; a pass in mathematics or computer studies preferred; the access assessment admits without them.
- Vocational route. A relevant lower TVET certificate or completed computing course.
- Recognition of prior learning. Practising informal technicians assess against the outcomes; the common result credits hardware and OS work and the learner completes networking to certification standard, security, conduct and the spine.
- Mature age route. Applicants of twenty five and above enter through the access assessment of literacy, numeracy and digital aptitude.
Industrial training
Assessed weeks inside a working organisation
- Duration and placement
- Ten weeks in the second semester, minimum 150 attested hours (module
- Host organisation types
- IT service providers and integrators, ISPs, school and SACCO networks, corporate and government IT departments, telecom help desks, and repair businesses.
- Learning objectives
- Perform support under commercial ticket pressure; experience site work, customer handling and escalation in a real estate; log every job.
- Supervision
- A named host supervisor; the practice tutor visits at least twice; 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
- Final workplace assessment against the practice rubric by host and tutor jointly, plus the logbook.
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 support business: the ENT101 demand study, registration, a live profile, at least eight real paying jobs including one small network installation, one signed support agreement, and a twelve month cash plan.
Employment route: deliver a complete small organisation IT project for a real or College sourced client: network, systems, backup, security hardening, documentation pack and user handover, to employer standard.
Deliverables:
The project file: the demand study or scope, designs and quotes The physical work: the installations and configurations, tested and audited The documentation: the estate pack, backup restore proof and handover The defence: presentation and oral examination, human confirmed Grading criterion Weight What excellent looks like Technical quality 35% Everything works under custody handled lawfully viability costs complete; the Security posture 10% Hardening applied; advice Use of AI tools 5% Assistance used with audit Defence 15% Every decision explained
- The project file: the demand study or scope, designs and quotes
- The physical work: the installations and configurations, tested and audited
- The documentation: the estate pack, backup restore proof and handover
- The defence: presentation and oral examination, human confirmed Grading criterion Weight What excellent looks like Technical quality 35% Everything works under custody handled lawfully viability costs complete; the Security posture 10% Hardening applied; advice Use of AI tools 5% Assistance used with audit Defence 15% Every decision explained
Progression
Where this qualification leads next
No Forward College learner ever meets a dead end.
Within Forward College: graduates enter FC-D06, Cybersecurity Operations, the designed next step from ICT107, or FC-D01, Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Operations, with the certificate's cognate credits recognised.
Into Forward University: the staircase runs through those diplomas and FC-H01 or FC-H06 into the University's computing degrees, with credit transfer of up to one third under the Part Two, section 2.12 equivalence tables; this certificate is the ground floor of the compendium's tallest staircase.