Advanced curricula adopted by Institute of Applied Technology (IAT) prepare talented students in engineering and technology, a prominent UAE educator said today. ''The UAE is rich of young talents who are capable of playing, along with other Emiarti professionals, their aspired role in the fields of engineering, oil, electricity, energy, health and aviation, '' Dr. Abdullatif Alshamsi, Managing Director of IAT, told the 12th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness 2012 which is being hosted by Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for the Distinguished Academic Performance in Dubai from 14 to 18 July. He noted that many countries were still facing significant problems including the reluctance of learners to join scientific stream, a gap between theoretical and applied sciences in real life and stagnant, traditional learning systems which disregard the passionate character of modern generation of the ICT revolution. ''There is a need for overhauling the academic education to provide learners with several options with the focus on natural sciences and expansion of the technological and vocational education,'' he added. According to him, the IAT experiment is one of the successful models in UAE which seeks to prepare, qualify and train national cadre who are able to deliver the Economic Vision 2030 of Abu Dhabi. IAT mission is create a world-class Career Technical Education system that will produce the scientists, engineers and technicians needed for the UAE to build a knowledge-based economy.