One of my primary considerations when deciding to come to Cambridge was the flexibility I’d have in my academic studies. Enticed by the multidisciplinary liberal arts programs advertised by American universities, I was afraid that the Cambridge degree would limit me to a narrow academic track and prevent me from exploring other disciplines I thought could enrich my degree experience.

Luckily enough for post-secondary me struggling with university decisions, I applied for HSPS – a course not only interdisciplinary by nature, but one that offers the option to borrow papers. For those unfamiliar, borrowed papers are courses that students can take from a Tripos other than their own, commonly found in humanities and arts degrees such as Linguistics, MML, AMES, and, of course, my own, HSPS. In my case, I took the opportunity to borrow a Psychology paper in my first year, exposing me to new lecture halls, new friends, new supervision schedules, and, most importantly, a new syllabus to familiarise myself with.

Suffice it to say, borrowing a PBS paper has been quite the journey. It’s been fulfilling to satisfy my curiosity about understanding the individual-level underpinnings of political phenomena. But it has also been confusing. Academically, PBS’s focus on memorisation and the looming multiple-choice exam has made it difficult for me to transition from the more theoretical approach in HSPS to the data-driven mindset required for PBS. Logistically, organising supervision schedules and lecture attendance has been nightmarish – one of my PBS lectures overlaps with another from HSPS. Not having my trauma-bonded HSPS coursemates to lean on during last-minute essay scrambles has made it extra challenging to gather the necessary motivation to finish my PBS essays at 3 in the morning.

“Borrowed papers are an atypical aspect of the Cambridge degree system, which has historically prioritised intense single-subject depth over interdisciplinary breadth”.

Borrowed papers are an atypical aspect of the Cambridge degree system, which has historically prioritised intense single-subject depth over interdisciplinary breadth. In a 1903 Economics curriculum report, professor Alfred Marshall argued that a Cambridge education should urge students to “attain [thoroughness] at all costs, and to combine it with as much depth as they can”. In the intervening 100-odd years, little has changed in the hyper-focused design of the Tripos system. Aiming for depth rather than superficial breadth, Marshall argued that the Tripos system actually better supported academic exploration through deeper understanding of related subtopics, nuances, and interdisciplinary aspects of the main field of study.

Often, breadth is found in depth – among my three HSPS papers, gaining an in-depth understanding of a particular thinker or concept within one field – say, anthropology – deepens my understanding of concepts later discussed in my sociology or politics lectures. Sometimes, when switching to psychology revision, I felt I was missing out on some course-wide connections that I could have gained by sticking to the suggested, core HSPS papers.

A first-year Trinity English student, Salma Reda, similarly champions the focus of the Tripos structure. Although she was interested in taking a borrowed French paper on Renaissance literature, her DoS dissuaded her, something Salma is now glad for. By swapping or dropping a paper, she claims that “you’ll have a gap in your knowledge, running the risk of having a decontextualised, confused view of English literature with chronological gaps”. With the English Tripos’ focus on the “whole scope of English from the 12th century to the present day,” borrowing papers would hold students back from gaining a “true, in-depth mastery of English, making it hard to make meaningful, cross-literary connections across the greater canon”.

“the process of borrowing a paper was easy and definitely added to the variety of [HSPS]—a lot of the work deals with more physical evidence than theory”.

Even so, despite the complications of borrowing a PBS paper, the unique, individual-level social and psychological theory that it has provided me has enriched my understanding of HSPS material. Fahad al-Saud, a first-year HSPSer at Trinity, who borrows an archaeology paper, said, “although archeology, because it is a bit of a smaller, can be a bit unorganised at times, the process of borrowing a paper was easy and definitely added to the variety of [HSPS] – a lot of the work deals with more physical evidence than theory”.

Thomas Sharma, a first-year AMES student, adds that “one of the things that attracted me to it [AMES] is how interdisciplinary it is – I can take papers on linguistics, Chinese politics, history, and Korean language all in the same year”. He said, “Cambridge could learn a lot from the American liberal arts model, where students are free to cut across subjects much more”. There is a lack of standardisation across departments, “while history can be combined with a European language, it cannot be combined with Chinese,” with Thomas claiming that “paper borrowing is brilliant and captures the academic spirit of curiosity and collaboration across departments that a university like Cambridge ought to offer; I wish it were more widespread especially within the humanities, where concepts are always intersecting”.

At the heart of the American liberal arts model is the belief that education should develop not just subject-specific expertise, but also cross-disciplinary breadth. This breadth provides students with novel perspectives that support a communal learning experience and help them approach today’s complex and multidisciplinary global issues. Princeton University’s admissions website highlights how, “by exploring issues, ideas and methods across the humanities and the arts, and the natural and social sciences, you will learn to read critically, write cogently and think broadly, […] strengthen[ing] your social and cultural analysis; […] allow[ing] you to navigate the world’s most complex issues”.

Similarly, Columbia University’s famed Core Curriculum, mandating students to explore subjects from the arts, sciences, philosophy, and history, aims to generate a “communal learning experience that cultivates community-wide discourse and deliberate contemplation around seminal works, contemporary issues and humanity’s most enduring questions”. Ultimately, the liberal arts model is based on the philosophy that real-world problems and solutions cannot be addressed by a single way of thinking.

“Although Esther argues that “the degree should not take sole precedence over the other skills and experiences”, it is the unfortunate reality that employers often “see the degree first””

Borrowed papers also offer students more options to develop transferable, real-world skills. One second-year HSPS student said, “in this day and age, graduates need to be equipped with a broad skill set, since careers and employment are increasingly dynamic and unpredictable.” Esther Ng, a first-year linguist at Magdalene, agrees. While she recognises the logic of “Cambridge’s laser-focus on single subjects – as a linguistics student, it makes no sense for me to take papers from HSPS, law, or philosophy,” she does grapple with the difficulties she faces when faced with the ubiquitous question of “how will your degree help you with your job?” When asked on some job application portals for a candidate’s “relevant papers taken,” she often wishes that she could have non-linguistics papers that could show employers her interdisciplinary capabilities and knowledge, despite her specialised degree.

Such concerns about the rigidity of the curriculum have not gone unheard in departments. Alex Hoeun, a Professor of Modern Literature and Critical Theory and a Pembroke Fellow, writes that the “university is actively exploring how to support greater interdisciplinarity across Departments and Faculties.” However, he noted the timetabling and administrative difficulties it brought.

As Cambridge students, we are caught between honouring the depth our Tripos demands and resisting the intellectual silos it can produce. With changing student demands and faculty constantly working to keep curricula relevant to the modern world, borrowed papers remain a quietly radical part of the Cambridge experience – proof that academic boundaries are, and should be, constantly evolving to best adapt with the times.