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Galen University in the Cayo District is under new ownership; the new man at the helm is Dr. Louis Zabaneh – who is also the former Chairman of the University of Belize. And now at Galen he is the new Chairman and owner. Along with an impressive Board of Trustees and academic staff, the school held a press conference today to publicly chart the new way forward. 7News was there.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
The mood was set with the uplifting sound of a Galen University song performed by the Garifuna Collective with Joshua Arana on drums and Adrian the Doc Martinez on lead vocals. The message was clear, Galen is rising in the west – new Chairman of the Board of Directors and owner Doctor Louis Zabaneh said it is all about the students.

Dr. Louis Zabaneh, Owner/Chairman – Galen Univ. Board of Directors
“Galen is about student focus. We are focusing on our customers, we want to make it clear that there has to be value for money. When you come to Galen you know that people will taking care of your interest. You can get a quality education here in Belize. Many parents contemplate whether or not they will have their students study here in Belize. At Galen we have students coming to Belize to experience Belize and so we want parents to know that you can get a very high quality international standard education for your children right here in Belize.

I am very pleased to announce that we are finalizing ten scholarships to be issued out in August of next year and they will be tuition scholarships, full tuition scholarships. Six of them for needy students, one per district, and four of them for academic excellence. So that is another new thing that we will be having on stream for fall of next year.”

The school is led by an esteemed board of trustees, academic heads of department populated by PhDs, most of them expatriates, but this schools is all about Belize says the chair of the board of trustees.

Galen Chairman,
“Our focus will be always about Belize, whatever decisions, deliberations, arguments will be about Belize at the end of the day.”

And while the future seems full of promise – Chairman Zabaneh bristled when we asked for specifics of the purchase.

Dr. Louis Zabaneh,
“I think we’ve talked that quite a bit Mr. Jules. I’ve told you it is me and my family who are the buyers. The people have sold and we have come to agreement and now we are here to share how we are going to go forward from this point. That is the important thing and we want you to cooperate with us as we go forward carrying the torch, be a part of the team that will be carrying this torch forward and bringing positive things to Belize. We want you to have a good solid story for your news tonight and I hope you recognize that you have one now, that you can go forward and the Belizean people, believe me, will be happy to get a positive story. There is no need to be bringing innuendos or anything around it. This story is solid by itself and you can go and sell it.”

Zabaneh says the school will also launch the Galen Quarterly Research Journal – and will offer consulting services. He has also committed to developing a basketball programme to compete with the Black Jaguar Program that he helped to found when he was at the University of Belize.