A degree course which covers "queer and trans geographies" has been cancelled by a top Russell Group university just one week into the semester in a bid to cut £140million.

It is believed that students at the University of Edinburgh rocked up to the first lesson only to be told that the course was going to be withdrawn for cost-cutting purposes.

The cancellation was then confirmed, according to The Times, with students turned to different units within the School of Geosciences.

Edinburgh University said the course had been paused due to a low number of sign-ups.

The "Queer Geographies: Spatialising Sexuality and Gender" class was labelled as a way for students to "critically, and self-reflexively, consider how sexuality and gender inform and unfold in the everyday spaces we inhabit".

If the course had not been axed, students would have been assessed by way of a 4,000-word journal.

Royal Geographical Society's Space, Sexualities and Queer Research Group Chair, Martin Zebracki, said: "This type of course would help students understand the process 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," he added.

Edinburgh University said the course had been paused due to a low number of sign-ups

"Courses like this really seek to develop critical thinkers of the future.”

Mr Zebracki warned that cancelling the unit risked further marginalising minority topics and groups.

He added that the popularity of a university course should not decide whether it should run or not.

Mr Zebracki again warned that it could "set a precedent" and asked whether "other universities going to copy this?"

Trans rights protesters pictured demonstrating in Edinburgh following the Supreme Court ruling | PA

The decision to remove the course comes after the Supreme Court ruled that single sex spaces, including changing rooms, could legally exclude people of the opposite biological sex, regardless if they had changed their gender.

Susan Smith, from the For Women group who won the case, said that "the market for diversity professionals who lie about the law is tanking and Edinburgh students" were wise enough to not 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," she added.

Edinburgh University Principal Sir Peter Mathieson said earlier this year that the institution was required to close a 10 per cent gap in its annual turnover over the next 18 months.

Edinburgh University Principal Sir Peter Mathieson said earlier this year that the institution was required to close a 10 per cent gap in its annual turnover over the next 18 months

That adds up to about £140million.

The University and College Union (UCU), representing academics, told online magazine The Edinburgh Dot that reports had been received from various areas of the university about courses being closed without notice.

That came despite student registrations in those courses.

It is understood other programmes were being merged or cancelled from next year.

The union's Edinburgh branch said it was "unclear how these course and programme closures" would save money.

A spokesman for the university said that the course had not been permanently closed.

He said that the university "regularly reviews and refreshes" its degree programmes and courses to make sure they "meet the needs of our community".

The spokesman added that the course was closed due to a lack of demand and students who had enrolled would be reallocated to another programme.