The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is the largest funding organisation in the world supporting the international exchange of students and scholars. Since it was founded in 1925, more than 1.5 million scholars in Germany and abroad have received DAAD funding. With German institutions of higher education and student bodies, its activities go far beyond awarding grants and scholarships. The DAAD supports the internationalisation of German universities, promotes German studies and the German language abroad, runs initiatives for universities in developing countries and advises decision makers on matters of cultural, education and development policy.Its budget is derived mainly from the federal funding for various ministries, primarily the German Federal Foreign Office, but also from the European Union and a number of enterprises, organisations and foreign governments.