Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai is being honoured by Harvard University for her work promoting girls' education.

Harvard's Kennedy School says Yousafzai will be awarded the 2018 Gleitsman Award at a ceremony on Thursday.

Yousafzai became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 when she was recognised for her global work supporting schooling for all children.

As a teen in Pakistan, she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban. She later founded the nonprofit Malala Fund to support her work.

Harvard officials say her story has inspired a generation of boys and girls to follow in her footsteps.

Now 21, Yousafzai is a student at Oxford University in England.

The Gleitsman Award provides $125,000 for activism that has improved quality of life around the world.