An elite university has been forced to drop a course about ‘queer and trans geographies’ due to lack of demand.Edinburgh University, part of the Russell Group, was offering the module to those taking geography degrees in its School of Geosciences.However, students arriving for the first session were told it would be axed this term because too few people had signed up.The course, which is run by Edinburgh’s College of Science and Engineering, is titled ‘Queer Geographies: Spatialising Sexuality and Gender’.It is described as an opportunity for students to ‘critically, and self-reflexively, consider how sexuality and gender inform and unfold in the everyday spaces we inhabit’.In an online description, tutors say they would ‘utilise queer, trans, and feminist approaches to studying human geography’.Students would be encouraged to see how this intersects with ‘race and colonialism’ and ‘what this reveals about the everyday landscapes we inhabit’.They would also learn how to critically analyse ‘heteronormative and cisnormative spaces’, it says. An elite university has been forced to drop a course about 'queer and trans geographies' due to lack of demand (pictured: Edinburgh University)Assessment was in the form of a 4,000-word journal, with no exams.It comes after the Supreme Court ruled that single sex spaces, such as changing rooms, could lawfully exclude people of the opposite biological sex even if they had changed gender.Susan Smith of the campaign group For Women Scotland, who won the case, told The Times: ‘The market for diversity professionals who lie about the law is tanking and Edinburgh students are wise enough not to sign up to a course which appears high on word salad and low on legal content or an understanding of wider human rights which should inform human geography considerations as much as the gibberish and irrationality of queer theory.’However, last night, LGBT+ advocates claimed the course had been axed for money reasons, as the university looks to save £140 million across all its operations.Martin Zebracki, chair of the Space, Sexualities and Queer Research Group at the Royal Geographical Society, said: ‘This type of course would help students understand the processes of social marginalisation, including in relation to legislation, and encourage students to consider how social norms could be challenged — not only in theory but also in everyday life.‘Courses like this really seek to develop critical thinkers of the future.’He warned that losing the unit risked further marginalising minority topics and groups and said the popularity of a university programme should not determine whether it ran.Mr Zebracki said: ‘Are other universities going to copy this? It sets a precedent.’The principal Sir Peter Mathieson announced this year that the institution needed to close a 10 per cent gap in its annual turnover during the next 18 months, a sum in the region of £140 million.The University and College Union (UCU), which represents academics, told the online magazine The Edinburgh Dot that it had received reports from many areas of the university about courses being closed without notice despite student registrations.Other programmes were being merged or discontinued from next year, it said.‘In many cases, there has been no consultation with subject areas involved, and no “business case” for these closures has been presented,’ The UCU Edinburgh branch told the Dot, which first revealed the queer geographies class was being axed.‘It is unclear how these course and programme closures will save money in many cases, and indeed, the Joint Unions Finance Working Group has expressed concern that such measures may actually depress the University’s income in future.’A university spokesman said: ‘The university regularly reviews and refreshes its degree programmes and courses to ensure that they meet the needs of our community.‘We have made the decision to pause Queer Geographies: Spatialising Sexuality and Gender for the 2025–26 academic year due to the level of demand not being sufficient to enable us to deliver the course and ensure an excellent student experience.‘Students who had enrolled on the course will be reallocated to another within their programme.’The university did not disclose how many students had registered for the unit this academic year.