Four UK Universities Adopt A Skill Swapping App Built By A Nigerian Engineer

Everyone has different skills and abilities. This is most obvious in school, and that’s why people attend tutorials or have study partners. This realization led Dr. Tomiwa Erinosho, a Nigerian researcher and engineer at the University of Bristol, and Andrew Ball to create an app that connects students who have skills with other students in need.

Andrew Ball and Tomiwa met while at Cambridge University. And while both of them were studying different courses, they were in the same school and each of them had a skill that would have complemented and benefitted the other. Of course, they never got to help each other with those skills. When their paths finally crossed in December 2016, they decided to find out whether other students in Cambridge had a similar problem by testing the skills swapping concept. The success of the beta test led to the creation of an app that helps students find skills within their student community: Skills Pal.

Since its launch last month, the Skills Pal app has been adopted for use by four UK universities: University College London, Imperial College London, London School of Economics and University of Bristol.

Basically, students sign up on the app using their university email (for verification and security purposes); after verification, students can start offering or requesting skills by submitting a form. Students can limit the search by university.

Once a skill match is available, both parties receive an SMS and email, after which both individuals can initiate a conversation via email to discuss how they wish to proceed. Users can submit as many requests/offers as they wish. However, users who offer skills are rewarded when they request skills by getting bumped up the request queue. 

The Skills Pal app is available on both the iOS and Android platforms.