Malala ‘so excited’ at PPE place in Oxford
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!! Well done to all A-level students. 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 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 prodemocracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi as well as former British prime minister David Cameron and his one-time Labour opponent, Ed Miliband.
PPE is also one of the prestigious university’s most over-subscribed courses, according to figures shown to the Press Association.
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.