The vision of the government, through the Ministry of Higher Education, is that all public universities need to generate their own income, or at least 30% of their operating expenses by the year 2020.

In 1980, UPM started the development of a strategic business unit under the purview of the Vice Chancellor’s office. The unit was called the Consultancy Unit (Unit Perundingan). It was started as a small unit to promote the expertise in the university that could be utilized by government agencies and industries. As time went by, business activities rapidly increased in the unit. Because of the growth of this unit the university decided to upgrade it. The unit was upgraded to the University Business Centre (UBC) in 1996. The UBC was not only doing a consultancy business but was expanded to create more businesses that related to the core business of the university. They opened up the education and training unit, the commercialization unit and the service unit. The UBC was transformed to UPMHoldings in 2004.

UPMHoldings is a wholly-owned company by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The company has established three subsidiaries to fully utilize research and technological expertise as well as to promote lifelong learning. The three UPMHoldings subsidiary companies are UPM Consultancy and Services Sdn. Bhd., UPM Education and Training Sdn. Bhd. and UPM Innovations Sdn. Bhd. The company’s performance has been enhanced by the incorporation of two more subsidiaries under UPM Consultation and Services, namely, UPM International Sdn. Bhd. and UPM Health Sdn. Bhd.