Ward Hadaway announced as sole advisor on UK visa and immigration legal matters for EdTech firm

Ward Hadaway has been announced as the exclusive provider of UK visa and immigration legal advice for StudyAtlas.

The Newcastle education technology start-up was established in 2016 by Sri Lankan entrepreneurs, Asanka Jayaweera and Buddhika Herath, to help international students applying for higher education courses around the world.

Based out of TusPark, in Grainger Street, Newcastle, the business has already struck partnerships with 23 UK universities. The StudyAtlas platform allows prospective international students to explore, compare and apply for courses at universities in the UK, Australia and New Zealand for free.

Asanka Jayaweera, CEO of StudyAtlas, said: “We launched our new online platform in October which now offers international students a one-stop shop to navigate their way through the process of researching, applying, and moving to study abroad.

“It offers potential students a truly global agent; replacing the current dependency on local individual agents and offers universities access to a much larger pool of international talent.We help international students who are applying for higher education courses around the world and are now looking to develop further partnerships in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

“We have known Flora for quite some time as she advised me on myTier 1 Exceptional Talent (Tech Nation) visafor the UK which has allowed me to continue with this business.

So it’s great to be working more closely with the team at Ward Hadaway on all of our student visas and immigration legal matters.

“Our new contract means we will now refer StudyAtlas students across the world to Ward Hadaway for help and advice on all UK immigration and visa matters.”

Employment lawyer and immigration specialist at Ward Hadaway, Flora Mewies will lead on the legal work supported by associate Gillian Burns and solicitors Natalie Payne and Andrew Craven.

Flora was shortlisted for a Rising Star Award in the 2018 Yorkshire Legal Awards. With Brexit on the horizon, she continues to lead the business’s immigration work across all three of the firm’s offices in Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester.

She added: “It has been hugely rewarding and exciting to see Asanka and Buddhika’s business flourish and to have been there at the start of their journey. The platform they have developed will certainly revolutionise the way students and universities around the world apply for degree courses. I look forward to seeing how they progress and building on our relationship over the coming years.”