Edinburgh University halts Queer Geographies course amid enrollment shortfall

The University of Edinburgh has paused the module Queer Geographies: Spatialising Sexuality and Gender for the 2025–26 academic year because enrollment fell short of what is needed to deliver the course and ensure a strong student experience, the university confirmed. The class was offered to students pursuing geography degrees in the School of Geosciences and was run by the College of Science and Engineering as part of its broader course mix. Students who had registered were told the module would not operate this term, and those enrolled will be reallocated to other options within their programmes.

The course description framed it as an opportunity for students to critically, and self-reflexively, consider how sexuality and gender inform and unfold in the everyday spaces we inhabit. Tutors said they would utilise queer, trans, and feminist approaches to studying human geography, and students would explore intersections with race and colonialism and what this reveals about everyday landscapes. The description also said learners would critically analyse heteronormative and cisnormative spaces and how these dynamics shape the spaces people inhabit. Assessment was to be a 4,000-word journal, with no examinations.

The move comes against the backdrop of a Supreme Court ruling 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, which won the case, told The Times that "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." Meanwhile, LGBT+ advocates argued the course had been axed for money reasons, as the university seeks to save about £140 million across its operations.

Martin Zebracki, chair of the Space, Sexualities and Queer Research Group at the Royal Geographical Society, said the course would help students understand processes of social marginalisation, including in relation to legislation, and encourage learners to challenge social norms not only in theory but in everyday life. He noted that courses like this aim to develop critical thinkers of the future and warned that losing the unit could marginalise minority topics and groups. "Are other universities going to copy this? It sets a precedent," he added.

The university’s leader, Sir Peter Mathieson, announced earlier this year a plan to close a 10 per cent gap in the institution’s annual turnover within 18 months, a target around £140 million. The move to pause or reevaluate certain courses has drawn scrutiny from faculty unions and student bodies. The University and College Union (UCU) said it had received reports from multiple areas of the university about courses being closed without notice despite registrations. It argued there had often been no consultation with subject areas and no formal business case for closures, raising questions about how such measures would save money in the long term. The Edinburgh branch of the UCU told The Edinburgh Dot that closures and consolidations were occurring across the institution with limited transparency and without clear financial justification.

In a separate statement, a university spokesman said Edinburgh regularly reviews and refreshes its degree programmes to meet community needs. The decision to pause Queer Geographies: Spatialising Sexuality and Gender for the 2025–26 academic year was taken because demand was not sufficient to deliver the course and ensure an excellent student experience. The university noted that students who had enrolled would be reallocated to another course within their programme. The institution did not disclose how many students had registered for the unit this academic year.