ABDO College offers great courses to help you develop your skills.  Read on to find out about what’s available: Optical assistant courses If you have just started working in optics or have been in practice for some time and want to formalise what you have learnt, the optical assistant...

The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) celebrated the graduation of dispensing opticians and contact lens opticians at Canterbury Cathedral on Tuesday 20 May. The annual ceremony is a time-honoured tradition where graduands approach the dais one by one to be congratulated by the...

If you missed one of our 'Introduction to apprenticeships' webinars, don't worry ABDO College will be running apprenticeship talks at 100% Optical (1–3 March). These talks will guide and inform prospective students and employers interested in this new and exciting pathway to become a...

  FULLY BOOKED To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, ABDO College will be running a number of “Introduction to apprenticeships” sessions online to help guide and inform prospective students and employers interested in this new and exciting pathway to become dispensing...

Education and Professional Development Manager for IOT Eluned (Lil) Creighton Sims FBDO recently gave an engaging talk with audience participation to second year students at ABDO College. The sessions gave an overview of progressive lens design so that students could use critical thinking to...

ABDO College is calling on employers with experience of offering apprenticeships to get in touch.  We aim to launch our apprenticeship programme for dispensing opticians in September 2024, subject to General Optical Council (GOC) approval. This follows ABDO College being approved by the...

Millmead Optical has donated a full set of its Star Fit Lazer Junior frames for students to use in their paediatric frames fitting classes. Pictured is lecturer Callum Wills highlighting the benefits of a correctly fitting frame to...

ABDO College has successfully opened its Optical Assistant (OA) Practical Skills Workshops to all sector colleagues, not just those studying on the OA training programme. The first two all-day workshops have taken place at the ABDO National Resource Centre in Birmingham. The College’s courses...

Having joined the College full-time in January, my first few months have been packed with events and opportunities to get to know the College and the optical sector. This has helped me really understand how ABDO College can add value to the sector and support it in being future-facing and...

The Graduation and Prize Giving Ceremony is the highlight of the College’s calendar and the most recent event was especially gratifying as our founding principal, Jo Underwood, was honoured for her many years of outstanding service. The award was a surprise for Jo but is richly deserved as she...

The College has joined the Acuvue Contact Lens Recycling Programme which means that the College’s waste contact lenses, empty solution bottles, plastic film and pods now get recycled. The national recycling programme, in partnership with TerraCycle, has collected over 11 million pairs of...

Jo Underwood, founding principal of ABDO College, has been presented with the ABDO Medal of Excellence in recognition for her outstanding service and commitment to the Association. The surprise award was made by ABDO president, Daryl Newsome, during last month's ABDO graduation and prize-giving...