LECTURERS at a city university are to boycott new immigration rules ordering them to monitor international students.

Two Liverpool John Moores (JMU) professors have put their names to a 35-strong list of UK academics threatening to reject rules which they claim effectively orders them to “police students”.

The move comes just days after JMU was caught up in terror raids by police.

A John Moores student was one of 12 men arrested in the North West on suspicion of terror offences.

In response, the Government is aiming to tighten security by making colleges and universities take responsibility for their overseas students.

The new rules make it compulsory, rather than discretionary, that universities must raise the alarm if they suspect students of being involved in terrorism, keep a copy of students’ passports and blow the whistle if they fail to show up or drop out of a course.

But Professor of Sociology Steve Tombs and Professor of Criminology, Joe Sim, claim the new directive is against contractual obligations and would jeopardise their working relationships with students.

Outlining their plans to boycott the rules, the 35 academics state in a strongly-worded letter that the practices are “discriminatory and distort academic freedoms”.