Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai 'so excited' as she gains place at Oxford

Malala

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai poses with her medal during the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo. Reuters/Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix/Pool

thumbnail: Malala
thumbnail: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai poses with her medal during the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo. Reuters/Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix/Pool
Scott D'Arcy

Activist Malala Yousafzai has said she is "so excited" after gaining a place at the University of Oxford.

The 20-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner tweeted a screenshot of the confirmation that she will study Philosophy, Politics and Economics, or PPE.

Earlier this year, she told a conference she had received an offer, which was conditional of achieving three As at A-Level, but did not reveal the institution.

Ms Yousafzai, who narrowly avoided death in 2012 after being shot by the Pakistani Taliban for her outspoken campaigning over girls' rights to an education, said: "So excited to go to Oxford!!

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"Well done to all A-level students - the hardest year. Best wishes for life ahead!"

Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, tweeted: "My heart is full of gratitude. We are grateful to Allah & thank u 2 al those who support @Malala 4 the grand cause of education."

Ms Yousafzai will be following in the footsteps of world leaders by studying a course that has been dubbed the degree that "rules" Britain by the media.

Notable alumni include former premier of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, a heroine of Ms Yousafzai, and Burma's pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi as well as former British prime minister David Cameron and his one-time Labour opponent Ed Miliband.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai poses with her medal during the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony at the City Hall in Oslo. Reuters/Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix/Pool

PPE is also one of the prestigious university's most over-subscribed courses, according to figures shown to the Press Association earlier this month.

Ms Yousafzai's opportunity may have been unimaginable five years ago.

Her career as an activist began in early 2009, when she started writing a blog for the BBC about her life under Taliban occupation and promoting education for girls in Pakistan's Swat Valley.

But her campaign angered local militants and she was shot in the head during an assassination attempt while taking the bus to school.

She was treated at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital and made the city her home, going on to study at Edgbaston High School in Birmingham since 2013.

Two years ago, Ms Yousafzai received 6A*s and 4As during her GCSEs.

The grades included A*s in maths, biology, chemistry and physics, and As in history and geography.

She also got an A* in religious studies and a maths IGCSE, as well as As in English language and literature.

In 2014 she became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and her campaign for children's rights to education across the world has seen her addressing the United Nations on the issue.

Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian newspaper who is now principal of the university's Lady Margaret Hall college, tweeted: "Welcome to @lmhoxford, Malala!"