The University of South Australia has distanced itself from a proposal for a series of male studies courses, some of which were to be taught by hardline anti-feminist advocates.

The university has approved one of four proposed graduate courses, a certificate in male health and health promotion, which will begin online next month.

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

But an original proposal by one of the university's academics outlined three further certificates, including a course called ''males and sexism'', which named lecturers who have been published on radical men's rights websites.

Among those named was American lawyer and self-described anti-feminist Roy Den Hollander, who filed a lawsuit against Columbia University for offering women's studies courses that preached a ''religionist belief system called feminism'', The New York Times reported in 2008.