On this year’s Varsity ski trip, I was beyond excited to share a room with my Cambridge bestie, and … two fellow Oxonians? While yes, we would rather be anywhere but Oxford (perhaps with the exception of Johns), my two Oxford roommates have now become some of my closest friends, having shared traumatising moments going down too-steep slopes, braving late-night grocery runs for the last rolls of toilet paper, and rationing our last pieces of pasta and baguette before the next day of intense skiing.

Over our dinner conversations, we learned that our Oxford equivalent of bedders are scouts, and intermitting termed rustication. We laughed about the all-too-familiar voices of Union hacks, present in both Oxford and Cambridge, yet discussed the Oxford Union’s greater liveliness and influence over student politics when compared to its Cambridge counterpart.

So it is surprising that, despite Oxford and Cambridge’s long-standing relationship (and rivalry), there is a noticeable lack of university-organised interaction between students. However, unbeknownst to many, colleges of both universities do have programs in place to encourage Oxford-Cambridge relations - the sister college system. This consists of a set of arrangements and benefits between Oxbridge colleges, encouraging interaction between students and faculty.

“unbeknownst to many, colleges of both universities do have programs in place to encourage Oxford-Cambridge relations”

Some colleges are forthright about the terms of their college sisterhood, while others are less transparent. Oxford’s St. Cross College’s website, which is paired with Cambridge’s Clare Hall, reads “[m]embers of Clare Hall are able to have Membership of Common Room at St Cross for up to ten days without paying Common Room subscription. They may also dine, attend social functions and stay in guest accommodation at the appropriate member rate.” This arrangement is reciprocal and also applies to St Cross members that visit Clare Hall, allowing Oxbridge students to seek temporary refuge in their Other Place.

On the other hand, my home college, Trinity Cambridge, rarely, if not ever, informs students of college exchanges with our Oxford sister, Christ’s Church. To my dismay, Oxford’s organisation clearly outranked Cambridge’s, when my Oxonian friend was responsible for informing me about an upcoming exchange between our colleges. This email was both of our first times hearing about an annual tradition between Trinity and Christ’s Church, where both colleges alternate hosting students for “sports, a formal dinner, and evening activities.” Many of my friends at Trinity are unaware that we are paired with Christ’s Church Oxford, with Kasey Rudman sharing that “I didn’t know of any time that we’d ever have to see Oxford students, let alone be siblings with a whole college—I don’t even know what that means!”

“I didn’t know of any time that we’d ever have to see Oxford students, let alone be siblings with a whole college”

Unfortunately, this lack of information surrounding sister college interactions seems to be the norm, rather than the exception. Many colleges don’t hold consistent events with their Oxford sister—Bonna Sloan, Front of House Supervisor at Clare, said that while the postgraduate MCR held had “a singular formal exchange for 25 people,” undergraduate students “don’t really know anything about the sister college thing,” and “haven’t done anything with Oxford” in the past years.

The fact most people are unaware that they even have a sister college raises the question—is there any way to increase interaction with our rival university, and is there any demand to do so? Most of the Oxbridge students interviewed for this article respond with a resounding yes, citing reasons such as wanting to see their friends from home and school, or a desire to meet new friends. Vicki, a first-year HSPSer, joked that she was “looking for the PPE to my HSPS.” Others have a simple curiosity as to what students from the Other Place are like, with Evie, a first-year E&M student at Christ’s Church Oxford sharing her “happy surprise at the chance to interact with more Cambridge students, you guys are pretty cool.”

“It’s very nice to know people in the sister college, knowing if I ever find myself in Oxford I know I’ve got a floor to crash on.”

This demand for more Oxbridge swaps may be for good reason—students who have participated in Oxbridge college sister swaps have only had glowing reviews to share. Olga Devine, a second-year at Emma, is part of her chapel choir which hosts exchanges with Exeter College Oxford choir students. Last January, she took a trip to Oxford, where she performed in a joint evensong and had a formal dinner with Exeter students. A few months later, Exeter Choir invited Emma Choir students to join their annual tour in Sweden— Olga says the trip was “really, really nice” and that she formed lifelong friendships, not expecting “us to get that close just from a trip to Oxford in January; it’s very nice to know people in the sister college, knowing if I ever find myself in Oxford I know I’ve got a floor to crash on.”

Similarly, Sophie Moody-Stuart, a second-year at Queens’, has positive experiences about a sports swap hosted with Pembroke College Oxford, where games were “competitive and silly but quite fun!” She said she “felt like [she] had a lot in common” with her Oxford counterparts, a sentiment shared by Olga.

While there currently exist no active proposals to bolster Oxbridge interaction (for the better or worse), there certainly needs to be a heightened awareness of the Oxbridge sister college program and any associated exchange activities. After all, there is not much that differentiates us Cantabians from our Oxford counterparts—it may have only been a simple syllabus or course preference that pushed us to pick between both universities.