With just two months remaining before Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union, university leaders have warned that the uncertainty about the terms and conditions for this separation from Europe risks inflicting on Britain "an academic, cultural and scientific setback from which it would take decades to recover".

The warning comes as the latest statistics indicate a substantial drop in the number of EU students enrolling in British universities, threatening a major squeeze on the higher education sector ahead of Brexit, as the process of Britain's separation from the EU is popularly known.