Which university did J.K. Rowling attend for her undergraduate degree?

J.K. Rowling attended the University of Exeter for her undergraduate degree.

She studied French and Classics at Exeter and graduated in 1987. As part of her French studies, she spent a year in Paris as an assistant teacher. Her education in languages and classical subjects later became relevant to the wordplay, names, and classical references found throughout the Harry Potter books.

Rowling did not study at the University of Edinburgh as an undergraduate, although Edinburgh became the city where she lived while writing much of Harry Potter and where she later settled. That connection often leads readers to name Edinburgh as her university.

The University of Exeter is a public research university in Devon, England. Rowling has also received honorary recognition from universities, but those later honors should not be confused with her undergraduate education. Her degree was from Exeter, not Oxford or Edinburgh.