Which university did J.K. Rowling attend before working as a researcher and bilingual secretary?

J.K. Rowling attended the University of Exeter before working as a researcher and bilingual secretary.

She studied French and the Classics at Exeter and graduated in 1987. Her French studies later informed aspects of her professional life, including work connected with bilingual administration. After university, she held several jobs before concentrating on the novel that became Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Rowling’s education is often mixed up with her later writing life in Edinburgh. She moved to Scotland after periods in Portugal and England, and Edinburgh became closely associated with the composition of the early Harry Potter books. That later location was not her university.

The University of Exeter is in Devon, in southwest England. Rowling has donated to the university and has spoken about her student years there. Her degree subject is also relevant because some Latin and French-derived vocabulary appears in the names and terminology of the wizarding world.