Work underway to create the UK’s first International Air and Space Training Institute

The initial home for IASTI Newark is taking shape. 

Parts of the Newark College campus are being transformed into a state-of-the-art facility for the training of future pilots, engineers and flight dispatchers. 

From September, IASTI Newark will have three purpose-built classrooms and access to the machinery workshop at Newark College, where learners will complete hand fitting tasks before progressing on to using lathes and milling machines to complete engineering aspects of their course. 

January will see the introduction of a new custom workshop. Here, students will get hands-on with the tools and technologies used in the aviation industry, including a flight simulator, engines and aircraft cabin modules. Through every stage of their course, they’ll be learning from experienced aviation professionals. 

The Newark College campus on Friary Road near the town centre will be the home of IASTI Newark until 2023 when a multi-million pound, purpose-built facility is due to be completed between Newark Castle and the A46 Newark bypass. 

Jim Guthrie, Learning and Skills Lead at IASTI Newark said: 

“Come September, around 100 students will be beginning their journey into aviation with IASTI Newark and we’re hard at work preparing our site and getting ready to welcome them. 

“The facilities we’re creating at the Newark College campus will be a state-of-the art learning environment in the heart of Newark. IASTI will feel like a separate and independent study centre with its own entrance. Here, students will learn face to face from industry experts who have years of flying and aircraft engineering experience, and they’ll get to use the tools, technologies and equipment they’ll need to master throughout their careers”. 

While work is underway to create IASTI Newark’s first premises at Newark College campus, the creation of the institute’s future home on Great North Road is progressing well. Last month, planning permission was granted for the former livestock market which currently occupies the site and a planning application for the IASTI facility is expected to be submitted in late summer. 

For its first students, IASTI Newark offers three courses tailored for pilot, engineer or ground operations pathways. These courses will lead to a Level 3 Diploma in either Aviation Operations or Aircraft Maintenance, depending on the chosen pathway. The courses will also build students' skills and knowledge in a wide range of fields ranging from flight planning, navigation and air law for pilots, to procedures for jet engine ground running for engineers, and aircraft marshalling for ground operations. 

For those who don't quite meet the entry requirements for the level-three courses, there is also a one-year level-two IASTI feeder course. This is an engineering course with elements of the IASTI core curriculum and loads of industry activities and enrichment exercises.  

Applications for courses starting in September 2021, including the newly launched level 2 feeder course, are open at https://iasti-newark.co.uk/curriculum where more information is available on entry requirements.