Why do you think the standard is getting lower because they accept 18-year olds?
btw, I entered UTAR a few months after i turned 18, with STPM.

lolz...people just never get their facts right.

Then you must be very wrong. I personally had seen very good UEC student. Dont talk about exam standard, its down right to the student itself. You can get 4.0 in STPM, but if you end up lazy in Uni, I dont think you will do well too.

And, plz. Forget Malaysian mentality. 20+ doesnt mean that they will do better in university. In countries lik UK, Aus, as long as you are good enuff, they will accept you even you are 16. STPM is hard, and indeed its a good exam. But you can never compared two different exam system. STPM focus on a lot "not so useful" syllabus, while A Levels and UEC focus on things that are more related to university level.

can any1 tell me does utar kampar hav hostel??...coz i entering utar kampar in middle of may..if rent a hse at nearest housing area,it's take a long distance to go utar

Why we are not up to that standard ? Because of mind like yours, we are lagging behind. To catch up, you must be on par with others. Not to say " oh, well we are not up to that standard yet". I do believe in Malaysia there lots of genius. Sun_Rae is one good example. She finish her STPM at the age of 18. Its Malaysia education system that are slowing down the student progress, you dont see student entering University at the age of 2x+ in most developed countries. And mind you, the goverment itself had recognized this problem and they are looking into ways in cutting down the years of primary and secondary education. So that means, entering university early does have its benefit to the country and society.

I did not mention STPM syllabus is not related to university syllabus. Its just that STPM syallabus is too wide. Anyone who studied STPM before knew this. Thats why I put there "not so useful" stuff. Yes, you do learn more. But learning more and applying it is two different things. Learning more doesnt mean that you will be applying it. But, still it will benefit STPM students because generally they will have an easier time during their year one.

As I mention before, age is not a problem. In my course, the top scorer is not STPM student, but some younger students from A-Levels and Foundation.

Of course Diploma student will have much better understanding in things related to the course since they had undertaken 2 years of diploma course that is directly related to the stuff. But how many students are willing to take diploma these days ? And how can you compare diploma student with pre-U students. Diploma holders directly enter into the Year 2 of degree program, while STPM/Alevels/UEC will only enter Year 1. Basically Year 1 is for them to learn all the trades before proceeding into year 2.