The University of Applied Sciences FHGR (previously HTW Chur (CUAS)) is a practice-oriented institution for study and research with around 1,700 students.

The research group consists of researchers from the Institute of Multimedia Production in the Department of Applied Future Technologies.
The research activities focus on developing visualization for mobile devices with sketching as rapid prototyping method. To apply all means of ideation in the digital production chain of smart phones and any smart devices to communicate for the media, for corporate communication and for science visualization is on scope. Fast adoption to emerging technologies and devises are a field of special interest in research.
The sketching method of Sketch&Draw is developed to educate students in technical degrees to draft visually. This approach is unique and proved over nine years. The method is based on algorithm derived from classical sketches used by scientist in the past and adopted to today’s devices and needs.
Furthermore the research reaches out to visual storytelling and narrative design. The blending borders from visualizations to moving and interactive images and visualization up to 3d objects need to be developed for the mobile and desktop applications.
Scientific visualization and communication in multimedia application in 2D and 3D information artefacts is a main focus. Scientific visualization and communications were realized for the Government of Switzerland in the field of special planning, sustainability and health.
There are two units that deal with convergent newsroom for media, political communication and corporate communication: 1) The institute conducts a research on multimedia educational resources in the field of MINT education.2) The department conducts technical expertise and research projects in cooperation with business entities and innovation development units and the government of Switzerland.
The production zone at the University is equipped with all the needed facility for multimedia production and measurement tool.

The Universitys Understanding and implementation of Sustainable Development
Both during and after their studies, students should play their role as multipliers of ‘sustainable development’ in society, irrespective of their chosen study programme or subsequent professional activities. The University of Applied Sciences in Chur should motivate its students to become actively involved in sustainable development. To enable them to do so, it has to provide them with the requisite knowledge and the necessary skills.
With this objective in mind, HTW Chur’s ‘Sustainability in teaching strategic initiative’ (STINE) was initiated three years ago. This laid the foundation for the creation of innovative teaching and learning concepts and a (new) focus with respect to the contents of the individual courses.
The implementation of STINE entails a combination of a top-down and bottom-up approach. The top- down approach defines which objectives HTW Chur wants to achieve in the individual study programmes as regards SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. This basis serves as a guideline for the conceptual development and implementation of the bottom-up approach. Until now, implementation has taken place in selected study programmes. From 2019, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT is set to become part of all study programmes.
One of the most important results from STINE is the creation of the ‘Principles of sustainable development’ module, which is offered across different study programmes and currently taught as a mandatory module in five of HTW Chur’s new study programmes. The module pursues three objectives:

–– To arouse and promote students’ interest in the topic of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. –– To teach students the principles and key concepts of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.
–– To motivate the students to make SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT a fundamental value in performing their professional and personal activities.

A further important objective is to motivate.
The Univeristy’s management and teaching staff to integrate sustainable development in their study programmes. To this end, lecturers have been given access to didactic support, expertise and an additional budget. The success of these measures is reflected in two selected examples: the participation of students at the International Tourism Student Conference (ITSC) in Sweden and the input of experienced guest speakers on the subject of ‘cruise tourism’ in the ‘Transportation & Mobility’ module.
During the implementation, the necessity of a coordinated and consistent approach to anchoring sustainable development in teaching at HTW Chur over the long term became apparent. Initially, independently planned and conducted projects relating to sustainability, such as the ‘sustainable development in teaching impact assessment’, were coordinated in terms of their content. In future, the implementation of such projects will be coordinated on a general basis.