The University of Texas in Dallas has nabbed the top spot as one of the universities and colleges founded less than 50 years ago. The institution was founded in 1969.

The list was collated by Times Higher Education. UT Dallas ranked 21st in the world for the Young University Rankings, which is an increase of three places from the 24th place last year.

The rankings include 200 institutions. It is based on 13 performance indicators to rate universities which are research-intensive. The categories are in teaching, research, citations or research influence, international outlook and industry income.

Other U.S. universities included in the list were Rush University at 33rd place, George Mason University at 47th place, the University of Texas at San Antonio at 68th place and Florida International University at 89th place.

Switzerland's école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne tops the world list for the Young University Rankings with an overall score of 77.9. It is followed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

UT Dallas was also ranked at 10th in the world in the publication's list of Top 50 Gen X Universities. The institutions included in the list were founded between 1967 and 1985.

In a press release by the school's official website, UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson said that the university's mission is to become a global force in education, innovation and research. The latest survey reaffirms their excellence in the fields of teaching, research as well as the transfer of knowledge to industry. He also thanked the students for their part in establishing the institution's reputation and its success.

In January, UT Dallas was ranked as one of the top 100 best values among the public universities in Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. The Princeton Review also recognized the school as one of the "Colleges That Pay You Back" in February earlier this year.