Professor K.J. Bathe has maintained strong ties with the University of Cape Town since graduating in 1967 as the Gold Medalist in Civil Engineering.

Since 1997, Professor Klaus-Jürgen Bathe has generously supported 94 undergraduate engineering scholarships within the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment at the University of Cape Town (UCT). These scholarships were awarded annually to outstanding students in their final two years of study who demonstrate exceptional academic ability and a commitment to excellence in their chosen fields.

During his visits to South Africa, Professor Klaus-Jürgen Bathe became deeply concerned about the challenges the country is facing and the African continent more broadly. He firmly believes that strong leadership across key spheres of human activity is essential to ensuring a decent standard of living for all citizens.

This led to his launching and funding in 2014 the Klaus-Jürgen Bathe Leadership Programme at UCT, with the aim of supporting students who, in addition to academic excellence, possess outstanding leadership qualities and a strong sense of social justice. The Programme aimed to develop future leaders who would play meaningful roles across business, government, industry, and civil society in South Africa and was led for ten years by UCT Professor Alphose Zingoni and staff, thereafter by Mary Hilton. Since its inception, 92 students from across all six UCT faculties have received leadership scholarships.

Due to rising administrative costs, the Klaus-Jürgen Bathe Engineering Scholarship and the Klaus-Jürgen Bathe Leadership Scholarship merged in 2026 to form the Klaus-Jürgen Bathe Scholarships, open to students from all six faculties at UCT. These scholarships will be awarded annually and administered by the UCT Funding Office.

An advantage of the merging is that a single community of KJB Scholars has been created.