2. In 1900, 14 doctoral universities formed the Association of American Universities (AAU),
an invitational membership group. In 1913, when it had 20 members, AAU established a
list of 119 approved institutions whose graduates should be accepted for graduate study.
The University of Berlin and other German universities had asked the AAU to provide such
a list for them to use for student admission. In 1924, AAU broadened the criteria and this
list became the “gold standard” of institutional accrediting lists until 1948, when AAU had
grown to 36 members and decided to discontinue developing such a list.