Over the past five years, Cwmbran College (formerly Dundridge College) has been a successful part of BAE Systems and still continues to be so. While the College is successful and valuable, its capabilities are not central to the BAE Systems strategy and consequently we have not always been able to develop the opportunities open to us. We all believe that under new ownership, the College will continue to evolve and become your establishment of choice.

As part of our strategy for long term growth, the College is committed to a programme of investment in our synthetic platforms. Consequently, we are now in the process of acquiring new hardware for all of our radar based Modular Airspace Synthetic Environment (MASE) simulators in order to facilitate new software upgrades. These upgrades will provide a host of improved features such as multi-screen display, dynamic information displays and improved graphics, with higher resolution and fidelity.

Another example of our improved capabilities is the DATS 3D TOWER simulator. This is the only such system to be granted approval by the CAA for the initial training of UK Air Traffic controllers. The simulator provides training in an environment that is a replication of a fully working Airport Control Tower, allowing the simulation of multiple environments, world locations, airports, seasons or time of day as required.

Feedback from both UK and International students has been extremely positive. Everybody who has used the system agrees that the transition to live OJT is seamless.

In essence, our simulators offer not only robust, high fidelity synthetic platforms, but also provide a flexible and portable capability, which can deliver training on the customer’s doorstep.

The College is committed to continually improving its courses and this year we have specifically focused on our UK courses in conjunction with SRG. As a result, we have removed a lot of College based private study periods from the timetables, without compromising on practical lessons. The onus has been put back on the student to carry on with their studies when they are away from the College; this has alleviated the need for timetabled study periods.

Consequently, the Aerodrome Control Instrument (ADI) course and the Approach Control Surveillance (APS) course now have a planned duration of eight weeks. This helps you, the sponsor, in two ways. Firstly, you save two weeks worth of accommodation and moreover have your team member back earlier, easing any roster issues.

For further information on ADI and APS, or any of the UK ATC courses on offer, please contact the College on tel: 01633 835123, and we will be happy to accommodate your requirements.

Thank you for all your support to date. The UK ATC team look forward to a successful year ahead and hope you will continue to be a part of our success.

Steven Ward

College Principal

27th May 2010