The Office of University-Community Partnerships (OUCP) realized that there are those who need assistance, and those who want to volunteer their assistances in community engagements. OUCP also realized that there are those who need to be inspired, motivated and guided by others in doing good deeds.  Based on these needs, CARES was initiated.

CARES or Community-Academic Reciprocity Engagement System is an initiative of OUCP that provides a more responsive point of entry for individual and community (groups, organization and agencies) seeking a university partnership, collaborations or assistance for a specific community-based and community-focused projects, programs, or initiatives. As a web-based portal system CARES facilitates on-line reciprocal engagement between the university and the community through Request Assistance and Register As Volunteer .

In addition to providing themodes for request assistance and register for volunteers, CARES also serves as a Projects & Activities database of UKM's community-focused initiatives, programs and projects. It is hoped that such display of university-community focused activities will help to inspire and motivate others to emulate such deed thus fulfilling the university’s quest of academic excellence with a soul.