The history of Federal Co-operative College Ibadan is situated on a tripod; the first of the tripod reflects the pre-independence era; the second covers the post-independence; and the last marks the era when the college was taken over by the Federal Government up to date. The pre-independence period of the history of the college commenced in 1943 when it was founded as a Co-operative Training School.
After a remarkable and successful period of functioning, the school gained a College status in 1957. With this elevation, it started awarding a recognized certificate in Co-operative Studies, drawing its students from within Nigeria and countries in the West African sub-region as Ghana, Sierra-Leone, The Gambia, e.t.c.
The advent of independence ushered in the second phase of the growth and development of the college. The initial success as recorded in the first phase did not trick the Western Region Government into resting on their oars in funding and assistance to the College. More resources were made available and by 1963, the College moved to its permanent site.
The permanent site itself is located at a point which commands easy reach of the University of Ibadan; The Polytechnic, Ibadan; School of Forestry; and a host of other institutions within Ibadan and it’s environ.
The third leg of the tripod which is also the third phase saw the take-over of the College by the Federal Government from the Western State Government on 1st April, 1976. The takeover was in a bid to enhance the Federal Government Policy on Cooperative Development which is to provide supervisory and experienced Senior Cooperative Administrative staff for the effective organization and technical development namely: Higher National Diploma, National Diploma/Pre-Higher National Diploma, Pre National Diploma in Co-operative Economics and Management and Professional Diploma in Co-operative Studies: The Pre-National Diploma and Pre-Higher National Diploma programmes had been phased out with effect from 2014/2015 academic session.
Other courses such as Banking and Finance, Computer Science, Home and Rural Economics were introduced in 2017/2018 academic session.
Apart from these courses, the College also runs short-courses in addition to workshops and conferences for the Co-operative Movement.