Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has attended her first lecture at the University of Oxford five years after she was shot by the Taliban for going to school.

The 20-year-old education rights campaigner tweeted a photo of three philosophy books on Monday saying: “5 years ago, I was shot in an attempt to stop me from speaking out for girls’ education. Today, I attend my first lectures at Oxford.”

Thousands of well-wishers responded with messages of congratulations and the post was liked more than 150,000 times within hours.

Ms Yousafzai is following in the footsteps of many world leaders in studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

She did not reveal her marks, but earlier this year told a conference she had received an offer, which was conditional on achieving three As at A-level.

5 years ago, I was shot in an attempt to stop me from speaking out for girls' education. Today, I attend my first lectures at Oxford. pic.twitter.com/sXGnpU1KWQ

— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) October 9, 2017

Ms Yousafzai narrowly avoided death in 2012 after being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban for her outspoken campaigning over girls’ rights to an education.

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 during an assassination attempt while taking the bus to school.

She was treated at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital and, fearing reprisals in her native country, made the city her home.

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.

– With AAP