The UTAR Community and Voluntary Engagement Programme (UTAR CARE Programme) was introduced in January 2021. This programme was initiated to cultivate and recognise students’ contribution, engagement and efforts in community and voluntary projects.

Participating in community service activities has proven to be beneficial to students in many ways as it provides them with good learning experiences and valuable lessons. By involving in community service, students will be able to develop interpersonal skills as well as the ability to communicate and interact well with other people. Furthermore, students who have a high level of involvement in community service will show positive changes in behaviour, action, values and career preparation. It also gives them the opportunity to practice crucial skills such as teamwork, communication, problem-solving, project planning, task management and organisation skills as they prepare for the future.

In addition, students will be able to experience out-of-the-classroom learning, where they are exposed to current issues faced by the communities in the real world. They are also given the opportunity to expand their network with various parties such as the local communities, local authorities, NGO’s, government agencies and industry players.
                                                
Students who volunteer will be able to stand out in a positive way because their passion and involvement are evident. Volunteering can add depth to a student’s experience and help him or her to stand out. Therefore, students are strongly encouraged to participate in community activities.

In UTAR, students are encouraged to be involved in more than one community activity. However, students are only allowed to claim a maximum of thirty hours for each community activity and a maximum of eight hours per day. A UTAR CARE Transcript will be given to students and it will record students’ involvement in the volunteering projects within their study period at UTAR from Foundations to postgraduate studies which includes University Social Responsibility (USR) Projects, Knowledge Transfer Programme (KTP), Student-initiated Community Project and other voluntary services at the University.

To obtain a five-star rating or UTAR Care transcript, students are required to complete a minimum of twenty hours to one hundred hours and above. They are encouraged to join at least one community activity from each category of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs). Some of the community activities organised by the University include ‘WE CARE, WE ACT’ UTAR New Village Community Project, Beach cleaning activities, gotong royong, Orang Asli Settlement projects, UTAR Hospital Fund Raising campaign and more.

This programme is associated with seventeen Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) which are broken into four categories. They are People, Dignity, Justice which falls under (SDG 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), Planet (SDG 6, 12, 13, 14, 15), Prosperity (SDGs 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11), Peace and Partnership (SDGs 16 and 17).

To join the UTAR CARE programme, students need to 1) log into their student portal, 2) select UTAR CARE and 3) click on registration for UTAR CARE. Once the students have filled in their details in the portal, they can proceed to click the ‘Register’ icon, after which, students will be able to view their UTAR CARE record and the total hours of service completed.