The Faculty which started off as Department of Vocational Teacher Education was one of the earliest departments in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka established in 1962. It was given its original mandate under Ford Foundation Project Grant No. 640-0475 for $380,000 in 1964. From inception, it was one of the three departments that made up the faculty of Education.The then Department of Vocational Teacher Education was made up of four broad units, namely; Agricultural Education, Business Education, Home Economics Education and Industrial Technical Education. Each of the four initial units of the Department had only a few students then and were, therefore grouped together into one department with the understanding that the Units would become full-fledged department when they had more students. The first head of Department was Professor Agusiobo.The Department was the pioneer Department of Vocational and Technical Education in Nigeria. As a result, almost all the institutions that run Vocational and Technical Education programmes in Nigeria at University, Polytechnic and College of Education levels are administered by the products of this Department.
In 1985 Computer Education unit was introduced. The Faculty was created in July 2015. She offers both undergraduate and postgraduate programme in the six occupational areas of Agricultural &BioresourcesEducation, Business Education, Computer & Robotics Education, Home Economics & Hospitality Management Education, Industrial Technical Education and Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education that serves the entire faculty. The Faculty of Vocational Teacher Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka has achieved huge successes in the face of overwhelming odds in the past 50 years. It has produced competent and vocationally skilled teachers that work in all areas of life in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
Since the inception of the Faculty, it has collaborated fully with the Faculty of Education in affiliating most of her programmes with other tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This was one of the ways of ensuring the spread of the programme to the other parts of the country.
Some of the affiliated institutions are:
- School of Technical Education at Yaba College of Technology, Yaba.
- School for Vocational Technical Education at College of Education, Ikerekiti in Ekiti State.
- School of Vocational and Technical Education,AlvanIkoku Federal College of Education, Owerri
- Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku, and
- School of Vocational and Technical Education, NwaforOrizu College of EducaitonNsugbe.
The Department evolved into Faculty of Vocational and Technical Education in the year 2015 with Professor C.A. Igbo as the Acting Dean.