By Ellie Bothwell. Doubts continue to linger that William Shakespeare didn’t really write all of “his” plays, without the benefit of a university education. So which historical  institutions should the real Bard of Avon have attended?
The Times Higher Education 25 Over 400 ranking lists the best ancient institutions, to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
The UK tops the list, with the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh claiming the first three places. In terms of national representatives, the UK is also joint leader in the table: both it and Germany have six universities each.
Just one university outside Europe makes the list, South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), in 19th place.
Italy is absent from the table despite being home to the oldest institution in the world, the University of Bologna, which was founded in 1088. More...