To encourage young people whose parents did not go to college, in particular, and improve their career opportunities, the Deutsche Bank Foundation launched the Degree Compass together with the Accenture Foundation and the Foundation of German Business in 2007. The 10th students' survey of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research reconfirmed the importance of programmes of this type most recently in August 2008: The share of students at German universities from households where the parents did not attend college decreased once again.

This year's participants in the Degree Compass – celebrating its second year of existence – were welcomed to the programme on 9 September 2008. Qualified school-leavers from Berlin, Erfurt, Frankfurt (Main), Frankfurt (Oder), Hamburg, Cologne and Mannheim were eligible to apply for the programme. These cities were selected because their ratio of school-leavers going on to university is below the German average. In total, the Degree Compass programme supports 375 young people. The program is slated for continual expansion in the coming years. It is also important for other foundations and companies to implement the degree compass in their own regions, to open new perspectives to more young, talented people, said Tessen von Heydebreck, Chairman of the Deutsche Bank Foundation.

The participants attend workshops and receive individualised advice during the three-year programme, which supports the students during the last two years of their A levels (called the Abitur in Germany) and their first year at university. As such, the Deutsche Bank Foundation and its partners promote young talents and motivate them to achieve their potential through the Degree Compass programme.

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research financed the independent scientific research accompanying the Degree Compass programme. The initial results prove that the students' needs for support in finding the right course of study and career depend highly on their personal and family backgrounds. In general, the better educated the parents are, the more support the children receive in choosing a degree programme and a career. Likewise, the less educated the parents are, the less support the children get.

The results of the study underscore the importance of the Degree Compass programme, which in its first two years has been tailored exclusively to young people whose parents did not attend college or who face other difficult circumstances. The interim report of the evaluation also revealed a high level of satisfaction among the participants with regard to support, instructor competence, working materials and group size, and also documented their strong personal motivation.