THE north's two universities have dropped down an international league table.
Queen's University Belfast's position on the Times Higher Education (THE) world university rankings had improved in each of the last three years.
However, it has slipped from 200th place last year to now appear in the 201-250 band.
Ulster University (UU) also fell from the 401-500 band last year to the 501-600 band in 2016.
The annual league table attempts to rank universities globally by judging them across their core missions of teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
Those behind the lists say the performance indicators used provide "the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available, which are trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry and governments".
Oxford was ranked as the best university in the world, the first time an institution from the UK took the accolade.
It knocked the California Institute of Technology, previously five times the winner, into second place.
Cambridge and Imperial College London joined Oxford in the top 10 for 2016/17, named fourth and eighth respectively, vying for positions with Stanford (third), Harvard (sixth) and Princeton (seventh) universities and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (fifth) - all in the US.
Elsewhere in Ireland, University College Dublin slipped down from 176th into the 201-250 band, alongside NUI Galway.
There were no changes for University College Cork and NUI Maynooth (351-400), or Dublin City University and University of Limerick (401-500 and 501-600).
Ireland's flagship university - Trinity College Dublin - which is traditionally the best-ranked, was omitted after it emerged it supplied incorrect data.
Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education world university rankings, said it was bad news for Ireland.
"While the root of the problem is the increased competition among the world's elite universities, particularly those in Asia, it seems clear that the major funding cuts endured by Ireland's universities are causing problems," he said.
