Mirpurkhas: Speakers at the concluding ceremony of a three-day training workshop have highlighted the importance of research culture in universities in Pakistan and said, “there is need to foster research culture, especially in the institutions for higher learning to help spur the development process”. This was stressed by Regional Director of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Karachi Engr. Javed Ali Memon, Chairman BISE Hyderabad Dr. Muhammad Memon, SU Director Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) Dr. Shahzad Ahmed Memon and SU Director Office of Research, Innovation & Commercialization (ORIC) Dr. Nek Muhammad Shaikh at the concluding ceremony of a three-day interactive workshop titled “Quality Assurance Procedures and Advanced Computing Skills for Researchers”. Organized by QEC in collaboration with ORIC and Dean of the Faculty of Education, the workshop was held at the Faculty of Education of Allama I.I Kazi Campus Hyderabad in Mirpurkhas on Monday. Dr. Muhammad Memon on the occasion stressed the importance of a knowledge driven economy to achieve sustainable development driven by science and technology to become a developed country in the world. He stated that excellence in basic research and applied research through enhanced academia-industry interaction in critical technologies was most essential. Dr. Memon believed that the vast science and technology system and the university system had created the needed foundation for converting the country’s economy into a possible knowledge-driven economy. “There was a need to give more stress on achieving cent percent literacy in the country, without gender discrimination”, he said. SU Dean Faculty of Education Dr. Saleha Parveen began her talk by comparing the GDP and economic growth rate of Singapore and China with Pakistan and attributed their development to the effective utilization of human resources through quality education. She was of the view that Pakistan was not exporting technology and value added goods. “There is limited budget spent on education, science and technology in Pakistan, the government needs to double it”, she maintained. She emphasized the need to focus on developing creative minds so as to bridge the gap in knowledge, science and technology. Regional Director of the HEC, Javed Ali Memon, said that the authority had taken various steps to upgrade research and the situation had improved, adding that private universities were contributing a lot to the field of research. He stressed the need to give training to researchers regarding cutting-edge knowledge about research tools and techniques. “