Post-Brexit uncertainty and long-term funding issues have seen storm clouds gather over UK higher education in this year’s QS World University Rankings.

Startlingly, 38 of the UK’s 48 top-400 universities have dropped down the rankings, with the University of Cambridge dropping out of the global top three for first time since 2004.

Even though Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, and Imperial College London have remained in the top ten – and with Edinburgh joining the top 20 and Manchester entering the top 30 – Ben Sowter, head of research at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, cited a combination of uncertainty and long-term funding issues which have impacted negatively on the UK’s performance.

For the second year in a row, China – which continues to benefit from generous government research funding – has more universities in3rd (=) in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 3. Harvard University (USA) 2nd in 2015 Darren McCollester/Newsmakers The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 4. University of Cambridge (UK) 3rd (=) in 2015 Getty The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 5. California Institute of Technology (USA) 5th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 6. University of Oxford (UK) 6th in 2015 Getty The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 7. University College London (UK) 7th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 8. ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) (Switzerland) 9th in 2015 The top 20 universities in the world in 2016 9. Imperial College London