Since its founding in 1925, DAAD has provided funding to more than 1.9 million scholars in Germany and abroad. DAAD is a registered association whose members are German institutions of higher education and student bodies. While DAAD is the world’s largest funding organization for academic exchange, its activities go far beyond simply awarding grants and scholarships to include supporting the internationalization of German universities, promoting German studies and the German language abroad, assisting developing countries in refining their university systems and advising decision makers on matters of cultural, education and development policy.