Still, the coursework appears to be a sci-fi buff's dream, with students expected to watch the Star Wars trilogy "to explore modern mythology" and sit through Star Trek re- runs "to understand the ideals of utopian societies".It is just one of the latest degrees that veers away from the traditional. There are modules in stand-up comedy at the University of Kent at Canterbury, perfumery at Plymouth and gambling at Salford.Others include herbal medicine, brewing and football management. The University of Leeds even offers a module on how to change a double duvet cover as part of an NVQ (National Vocational Qualification).But the leader of the Glamorgan sci-fi course, Dr Mark Brake, said the curriculum wasnot frivolous. "Science fiction is an integral part of delivering science fact to people," he said."The world of science fiction can be a good model for theoretical science in an imagined environment.

Films like Star Wars are modern morality tales with strong elements of good versus evil."Equally, the growing interest in UFOs indicates a vacuum that religion has not been able to fill and these are themes we will also deal with."Dr Brake said students would be expected to produce clear, strong work on these issues. "Put it this way - they won't be watching 2001 and listening to Pink Floyd."Well, not in my lectures I can't abide Floyd.". THE WOMEN'S prison featured in the television series "Jailbirds" has been attacked by the Chief Inspector of Prisons for being under-resourced and for treating its pregnant inmates poorly. In a report published today on New Hall prison in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Sir David Ramsbotham says the jail has failed to cope with a doubling of the inmate population in the last four years and suffers from a "lack of direction".

The BBC 1 documentary made cult figures out of several of the New Hall inmates, including Ivy Miller, a 71-year-old grandmother serving time for credit card offences. In his report, the Chief Inspector sympathises with the two-thirds of patients in the prison health care unit who describe their medical treatment as "bad" or "very bad". Sir David says pregnant women prisoners were being denied written information on health promotion, and the opportunity to prepare physically for childbirth. He criticises the fact that both the prison's doctors are male - as are 30 per cent of the prison officers, a figure which he says must be reduced.The prison, which has seen its population rise from 180 to 350 without a similar increase in funding, contains one of only two juvenile women's units in the country as well as a mother and baby unit.Sir David says he found it "infinitely depressing" that nearly 80 per cent of the juveniles in New Hall had been in care before being imprisoned. He demands action from senior managers at Prison Service headquarters in London to ensure that the prison is properly resourced.But in a second report published today, Sir David lavishes praise on a pioneering young offenders' institution which he says must become a model for the rest of the Prison Service. The Chief Inspector says that Huntercombe YOI, in Oxfordshire, is run by an "admirable governor, supported by an enthusiastic staff, who have succeeded in delivering a quality regime". He calls on Prison Service chiefs not to transfer the governor, Paul Manwaring, to another jail until he has "had long enough in post to bring his ideas and innovation to fruition".Among the schemes developed by Huntercombe are a project with the Japanese motor giant, Nissan, which donates vehicles and parts to the jail for a scheme aimed at reducing car crime.Offenders are taught to channel their interest in driving into a car maintenance course, which carries recognised qualifications, and are given lessons in the consequences to victims of vehicle crime.

The Chief Inspector was also impressed with the setting up of a "Casework Team", made up mainly of experienced prison officers who work individually with offenders under the age of 18."The sense of excitement, enthusiasm and commitment of those working in the team was striking," said Sir David. "The contribution of these mature men, and a few - but not enough - women, as role models of calm and stable adults was inestimable.". IT WAS a pilgrimage of the disappointed yesterday as thousands of shareholders in Marks & Spencer packed the company's annual investors' meeting to hear the struggling retailer explain its annus horribilis. More than 2,000 (double last year's attendance) trooped along to the Grosvenor House Hotel on London's Park Land while 700 staff had to be re-directed to the nearby Cumberland Hotel because demand for seats was so great. The packed auditorium at the Grosvenor House looked like a snap-shot of the typical M&S customer. Smartly dressed gents in blazers and slacks checked their straw boaters in the cloakroom and sat listening attentively.

Conservatively attired women in twin sets and floral print dresses took their green shareholders cards and held them aloft to ask questions from the floor.After a year in which Marks & Spencer has suffered a near halving of profits, a collapse in its share price, a boardroom bust-up and the further indignity of now being cited as a possible takeover target, shareholders had good reason to be angry. But this was Middle England, Marks & Spencer's natural habitat. Clearly, some sections of the audience would rather bury the board of directors than praise it, but the atmosphere was more polite than executives had a right to expect.But even some of the more anodyne questions reflected the depth of this company's woes."Why has the quality of your woolly cardigans gone downhill," one shareholder asked, saying she had been unable to buy one at all during the summer "which is silly because you need one on the beach when it gets chilly".Another shareholder who marched on to the podium to display the C&A outfit she was wearing, said she was in her fifties but was now unable to buy M&S clothing because it did not fit. "When are you going to realise that women in their fifties do not have the same waistline they did when they were 18," she said. She branded M&S clothes "boring" and said she had started buying her underwear from Bhs because it was more "sexy".A third shareholder, Carol Brett, begged the group to start stocking larger clothes - up to sizes 24 and 26 - and another called for the group's stores to start taking credit cards.Eric Band of Beckenham in Kent said the company had forgotten its traditional customers as it tried to attract younger buyers.