Lee graduated from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, with a double starred-first-class honours in law; also receiving the Whitlock Prize. In 1950, he became a barrister of the Middle Temple and practised law until 1959. Lee co-founded the People's Action Party (PAP) and was its first secretary-general, leading it to eight consecutive victories. He campaigned for Britain to relinquish its colonial rule, merging with Malaysia in 1963; but racial strife and political tensions led to its separation from the Federation two years later. Leading a newly independent Singapore from 1965, with overwhelming parliamentary control, Lee led the nation through multiple upheavals in Southeast Asia and oversaw its transformation from a relatively underdeveloped colonial outpost with no natural resources to an Asian Tiger economy. In the process, he forged a widely admired system of meritocratic, corruption-free and highly efficient government and civil service, much of which is now taught at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, with an alumni from more than 80 countries.