A Cambridge University professor who cautioned against partying has been warned by students that he risks damaging their mental health and causing "impostor syndrome".

Professor Eugene Terentjev, who is the Director of Studies in Natural Sciences at Queen’s College, Cambridge wrote to first year students to warn them of the perils of having too much of a “good time” at university.

In an email to the college’s newest intake of science undergraduates, Prof Terentjev urged science students not to be “fooled” by other students who they may see “partying around”.

He said: “Be sure, none of them are physical science students – not in the years above you, that is."

Prof Terentjev, who is the John Baldwin Fellow in Physics and a leading expert in soft condensed matter physics, told students: “You can ONLY do well (i.e. achieve your potential, which rightly or wrongly several people here assumed you have) if you are completely focused, and learn to enjoy the course.

"People who just TAKE the course, but enjoy their social life, can easily survive in many subjects -- but not in this one.”

The professor has sparked a fierce backlash among students, who claim that his message could be “extremely damaging” to mental well-being, adding that the Professor is advocating a “unhealthy and dangerous way to live”.