Centuries-old universities often boast glorious histories and sterling reputations, but many younger universities also show great potential as rising stars.

The Times Higher Education has recently published its "100 Under 50 Rankings 2015," a list of the top 100 universities in the world with under 50 years of history.

Switzerland’s école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne took the crown, becoming the best young university in the world. Four Asian universities ranked No.2 through No.5.

This year’s list is the fourth annual ranking published since 2012. It adopts the same 13 separate indicators as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings but gives less weight to reputation.

The indicators are grouped into five categories: teaching (learning environment), research (volume, income and reputation), citations (research influence), international outlook (staff, students, research) and industry income (innovation). Teaching, research and citations each account for 30 percent of a school’s score, while international outlook accounts for 7.5 percent and industry income for 2.5 percent.

The following are the top 10 young universities in the world.

 Paris-Sud University

Paris-Sud University [File photo]

Established: 1971

Location: Orsay, France

Overall score: 57.5