Universities must implement a much tougher regime of checks on overseas students to prevent campuses being used as recruitment grounds for Islamist terrorists, a report warned yesterday.

Anthony Glees, professor of politics at Brunel University's Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies and co-author of the report, said lax controls had turned universities into a "national security risk". Universities, and mosques, prisons and gyms were now one of the most important environments for terrorist recruiters.