Near East University President of the Board of Trustees Assoc. Prof. Dr. Irfan Günsel enlisted within Forbes Turkey's "New Leaders" among the successful young generation business people.
One of the most prestigious magazines of business and economy world of Turkey, Forbes Turkey, devoted its September issue to "Investment Report 2018". Giving priority to young generation's opinions in accordance with its file topics, Forbes Turkey focused on the young generation business people under 40 years of age who are the second or third generation executives of gigantic investments of their families or of those of their own. One of the young names shown by the magazine as the "New Leaders" is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Near East University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Irfan S. Günsel.

Forbes Turkey mentioning that Irfan Günsel had started to serve as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Near East University yet at the age of 28, is focusing on the 9 years under his leadership; "Irfan Günsel has played an important role and burdened significant duties during his presidency. Among these are establishments of the super computer infrastructure, innovation center, Faculty of Medicine and the production of electric cars as well as all the critical investments of Günsel Family throughout the last period" said Forbes Turkey, and emphasized that the feature that made the Günsel Family and the Near East University different is that "they have succeeded in creating a network of entrepreneurship centering on the university and the education sector".

Referring to the opinions of Assoc. Prof. Dr Günsel on the importance of R & D and innovation studies and focusing on the presentation of İrfan Günsel's on the Near East University's ability to develop knowledge and technology, the magazine defined Günsel as follows:

"As the son of a dedicated teacher who devoted his whole life to education, I can say that my greatest teacher is my father, and so far I have taken the most important lessons from my father. Since the very first day of his education life, his consideration of the education institutions, especially the universities as the "weaving looms" of their societies is the lesson/idea of my life... The third generation university model, to which also the Near East University corresponds as one of the top examples of this the weaving loom, is the university model which will lead to future advancements. We will always continue with this idea as an institution that transforms all the scientific data it produces in the context of research and innovation studies into the benefit of the society and also guides the education of young people within this frame. "

The other names shown by Forbes Turkey's as the "New Leaders" are as follows: Pınar Eczacıbaşı, the Eczacıbaşı family member from the 3rd generation; Kerem Sabancı Kamışlı from the dauphins of Esas Holding; Cem Garih, the grandson of the late Uzeyir Garih, one of the founders of Alarko Holding; Seven Bridges Chairman Tarık Yıldırım and Aksoy Holding CEO & Vice President Batu Aksoy.