The University of Gloucestershire is a public university based in Gloucestershire, England. It is located over three campuses, two in Cheltenham and one in Gloucester, namely Francis Close Hall, The Park and The Centre for Art and Photography being near to Francis Close Hall; the university is the recent successor of a large number of merged, name-changed and reformed institutions of further and higher education. Its history spans nearly two centuries, it originates from the merger of two distinct strands of educational provision in Gloucestershire being that provided by Local Government and that founded by the Anglican Church. The university traces its earliest Civic history to the Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute in 1834, to the Cheltenham Training College in its Church history, established in 1847, by the Reverend Francis Close. Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education was created in 1990 from the two distinct strands. In October 2001, the college was awarded University status.

The university provides 100 undergraduate courses and around 57 taught post-graduate courses within eight schools. A 10-year Memorandum of Understanding exists between the university, Gloucestershire College and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College to support access to higher education; the following are points in the history appearing in the timeline. 1834 – Cheltenham Mechanics' Institute 1840 – Gloucester Mechanics' Institute 1847 – Cheltenham Training College 1852 – Cheltenham School of Art 1920 – St Paul's College of Education 1920 – St Mary's College of Education 1967 – Gloucestershire College of Education 1979 – College of St Paul and St Mary 1980 – Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology from four other Local Authority colleges 1990 – Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology 1990 – Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education 2001 – University of GloucestershireFrom 1992, Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education was permitted to award first and postgraduate degrees and in 1998 it achieved research degree awarding powers.

In 2001, the University of Gloucestershire was awarded university status. Mechanics' Institutes developed in the United Kingdom over the 19th century. A number formed the earliest roots of Colleges; the Cheltenham Mechanics Institute is associated with a notable historical incident. A speaker, George Holyoake, became the last person prosecuted and convicted for blasphemy following a public lecture he delivered at the Institute in April 1842; the Anglican Foundation of the University of Gloucestershire evolved from the Christian Foundation of the former colleges of St. Mary and St. Paul, two of the institutions which came together to create the university; until September 2011, Foundation Fellows played a significant role in the governance of the university. Following a review of governance by the university in 2010/11, it was agreed that Council should be responsible for appointing all its external members. Foundation Fellows are still eligible to apply to Council to become external members. In February 2012 Rennie Fritchie was announced as the new Chancellor succeeding Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

Sir Henry Elwes and the former Bishop of Gloucester Michael Perham are Pro-Chancellors. As of August 2011, Stephen Marston holds the post of Vice-Chancellor. In 2009/10 several senior figures in the university resigned. In November 2009, Paul Bowler, the deputy vice-chancellor resigned shortly after being suspended from his post only seven months after joining the institution. Paul Bowler, a former investment banker who joined Gloucestershire in May 2009, was on a week's leave when he was told not return to work. On 7 December, a university spokesperson said, "The deputy vice-chancellor Paul Bowler, has resigned. Financial benefits have not been sought by Mr Bowler, leaving of his own accord to pursue other interests". In December 2009 Dr. Sharp and Associate Pro Vice-chancellor, following his resignation, took up a post in the new UK Higher Education International Unit; the Vice-Chancellor, Patricia Broadfoot, resigned in March 2010, during conflicting views on the financial health of the institution.

The precise circumstances of this resignation and the salary paid to her as recorded in the public accounts have attracted various media attention being the reported highest of all UK Vice-chancellors for the year. In May 2010, the Chancellor Lord Carey resigned. In September 2010, Paul Bowler was a witness in an employment tribunal case brought by a member of staff of the university under the'whistleblowing' legislation – the Public Interest Disclosure Act; the tribunal found for the outcome was reported in the higher education press. In March 2011, Paul Hartley resigned. Stephen Marston, current Vice-Chancellor, has committed himself to listening to staff concerns, he states'new culture' being addressed and reports a new senior management Human Resources appointment. Since his appointment the university has been nominated for several awards for student support, including the Times Higher Leadership and Management awards for outstanding student services in 2014 and 2015, Outstanding Student Support by WhatUni.

In 2015 applications rose by 6% – three times the national average – and the numbers confirming offers of places had increased by 18% when the official Ucas deadline passed. The university has three campuses located in Gloucester; the Park, Cheltenham, is the administrative centre. It is located in the Park district of Cheltenham; the estate dates from the 19th century and was designed as zoological and horticultural gardens. The Media School was relocated to the Park Campus in 2011 from the former Pittville campus; the new facilities in

Operation Cauldron was launched by the Rhodesian Security Forces in response to an incursion by ZIPRA insurgents on 28 December 1967. Despite the death or capture of 77 out of 79 men, ZAPU, from its base in the Zambian capital, did not regard the incursion as a failure. Buoyed by what they perceived as a success, they planned another operation to take place in northern Mashonaland: about 100 men—75 ZIPRA and 25 MK—were to infiltrate the Zambezi valley and establish a series of camps, including underground caches containing food, clothing and other equipment, they were instructed to avoid the Rhodesian Security Forces "at all cost" while they recruited local tribesmen to the nationalist cause and trained them. Once a sufficient indigenous force existed, they were to inform Lusaka, which would coordinate a mass uprising; the aim was not to defeat the government forces, but rather to force the British military to intervene. If the operation were a success, the MK men were to be escorted to South Africa to begin similar activities.

The group, which consisted of 126 cadres, crossed the Zambezi around the turn of the year, with 34 cadres entering Rhodesia on 28 December 1967 and the remainder joining them on the nights of 3, 4 and 5 January 1968. The guerrillas busied themselves working their way into the country, setting up camps as they went, naming each "Camp One", "Camp Two" and so on. After two and a half months in Rhodesia the ZIPRA cadres had created five bases, each further south than the next in an straight line pointing due south, they remained undetected until unfamiliar bootprints were discovered by David Scammel, a game ranger, on a well-worn path, about the width of a "four-lane highway", on 14 March 1968 around the midpoint between Camps Four and Five. On closer inspection Scammel found. So began Operation Cauldron. "The appropriately named Cauldron," says Binda, "was to be the crucible in which the fighting character of the RLI was to be forged.... It revealed to the world what outstanding and peerless anti-terrorist fighters the RLI were."

A Joint Operations Centre was formed on 16 March 1968 at Karoi, made up of two RAR platoons, a BSAP patrol, 1 and 3 Commandos, RLI. Two Vampire fighter-bombers and two Canberra bombers were detailed to circle the area and provide air strikes as needed. A patrol of 13 troopers from 14 Troop, 3 Commando, led by Lieutenant Bert Sachse, made first contact with the enemy on the morning of 18 March, encountering 14 nationalists near the Angwa River in the Mana Pools area. Attacking an enemy on higher ground, Sachse's men killed 10 guerrillas but lost Trooper E. N. F. Ridge to sniper fire, he was first RLI soldier to be killed by enemy action. The official operational report describes the contact as "a first-rate action in which Lieutenant Sachse's leadership and the determination of his men achieved an successful result."On the same day Lieutenant Chris Pearce's 13 Troop, 3 Commando, on patrol with a platoon of Rhodesian African Rifles under Lieutenant Ron Marillier, was fired upon on the bank of the Maura River in Northern Mashonaland by about 70 ZIPRA insurgents, encamped in a strong defensive position on the side of a hill feature.

"We were going on up the bank and all hell broke loose," recalled Pearce. "How we didn't take casualties I didn't quite know." Pearce's 12 men outnumbered by around six to one. Lance-Corporal Dennis Croukamp "on his own initiative and with complete disregard for his own safety" in the words of the official report, twice crawled forward to throw grenades at the enemy position to allow the troop to redeploy into better cover. Pearce unsuccessfully attempted to assault the enemy position gave covering fire to an abortive flank attack by Marillier's RAR men; the security forces attempted one final assault just before nightfall, but this failed due to the superior numbers of ZIPRA fighters. The cadres dispersed and evacuated the area during the night and were gone when a Rhodesian sweep took place the next morning. A series of contacts over the following days resulted in the guerrilla squads being split up and weakened, with the men who did not surrender or desert being killed or arrested. An assault on an enemy camp near Sipolilo on 26 March by 21 men from RLI Training Troop resulted in the deaths of two Troopers, R. A. Binks and G. D. Wessels.

By 27 March, 28 cadres had been killed and 15 captured. Five more were arrested on 4 April and one shot dead by men from 1 Troop, 1 Commando, south of Makuti. "It now appeared obvious," says Binda, "that the insurgents had scattered and were on the run." On 9 April, the last contact with any significant number of guerrillas involved took place north of Karoi. A police unit and 4 Troop, 1 Commando encountered a group of insurgents and killed all seven, but lost Trooper M. E. Thornley to a fatal chest wound; when Operation Cauldron was closed on 31 May 1968, 58 of the 126 fighters who had crossed from Zambia had been confirmed killed and 51 had been captured. Of the 17 outstanding, nine had returned to Zambia. Having acquitted themselves well during the operation, the young RLI troopers, many still teenagers, earned high

Hannu Rajaniemi is a Finnish author of science fiction and fantasy, who writes in both English and Finnish. He lives in Oakland and was a founding director of a commercial research organisation ThinkTank Maths. Rajaniemi was born in Ylivieska, Finland in 1978, he holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Oulu, a Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Mathematical Physics from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to starting his PhD candidature, he completed his national service as a research scientist for the Finnish Defence Forces. While pursuing his PhD in Edinburgh, Rajaniemi joined Writers' Bloc, a writers' group in Edinburgh that organizes semi-regular spoken word performances and counts Charlie Stross amongst its members. Early works included his first published short story "Shibuya no Love" in 2003 and his short story "Deus Ex Homine" in Nova Scotia, a 2005 anthology of Scottish science fiction and fantasy, which caught the attention of his current literary agent, John Jarrold.

Rajaniemi gained attention in October 2008 when John Jarrold secured a three-book deal for him with Gollancz, on the basis of only twenty-four double-spaced pages. His debut novel, The Quantum Thief, was published in September 2010 by Gollancz in Britain and was published in May 2011 by Tor Books in the U. S; the novel has been nominated for the 2011 Locus Award for Best First Novel. A sequel, The Fractal Prince, was published in September 2012 by Gollancz in Britain, in October 2012 by Tor in the U. S; the third book in the series is called The Causal Angel, was published in July 2014 by Gollancz in the U. K. and by Tor in the U. S. Rajaniemi has stated that the literary works of Jules Verne inspired both his career in science, as well as his science-fiction writing. Other influences include Arthur Conan Doyle and architecture blogger Geoff Manaugh, he co-founded Helix nanotechnologies. 2012 Tähtivaeltaja Award, winner for The Quantum Thief. 2011 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards, Short Form category, translation of Hannu Rajaniemi's "Elegy for a Young Elk".

2011 Locus Award for Best First Novel, The Quantum Thief 2011 John W. Campbell Memorial Award, third place, The Quantum Thief 2013 John W. Campbell Memorial Award, The Fractal Prince Rajaniemi lives in San Francisco, California with his wife. Summerland The Quantum Thief Third place, John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction NovelThe Fractal Prince The Causal Angel Words of Birth and Death, as a limited edition chapbook."The Viper Blanket" "Barley Child" "Fisher of Men" Hannu Rajaniemi: Collected Fiction ISBN 978-1-61696-192-3 A partial list follows. "Shibuya no Love" Published in futurismic.com, 2003 Available online "Deus Ex Homine" First anthologized in Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction, 2005, ISBN 978-1-84183-086-5 The Year's Best Science Fiction 23, 2006, edited by Gardner Dozois, ISBN 0-312-35334-0 Year's Best SF 11, 2006, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, ISBN 0-06-087341-8 "His Master's Voice" Published in Interzone 218, October 2008 Available online in English and Finnish Audio version available online as a podcast on the Escape Pod and Starship Sofa "Elegy for a Young Elk" Published in Subterranean, Spring 2010 Won the award for short from in the 2011 Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards.

"The Server and the Dragon" Published in Engineering Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan, December 2010 "Invisible Planets" Published in Reach for Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan, May 2014 "Unchained: A story of love and blockchain" Published in MIT Technology Review, April 25, 2018. Hannu Rajaniemi on Twitter Hannu Rajaniemi at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database