J.K. Rowling attended the University of Exeter in Exeter, England.
Rowling studied French and Classics at the University of Exeter and graduated in 1987. Her course included a year in Paris, reflecting the modern-languages part of her degree. The university is in Devon in southwest England.
Her studies later provided useful background for her writing. Rowling has discussed how studying languages helped her understand words and how classical subjects supplied names, references, and ideas that could be adapted into fiction.
Rowling did not begin her university education intending to become a bestselling novelist. After graduating, she worked in several roles, including as a researcher and bilingual secretary. The idea for Harry Potter developed during the early 1990s, before the first novel was accepted for publication.