The media and kyōiku senmonka (教育専門家, pundits on education) have been voicing the pros and cons of the idea put forward by the Jiminto (自民党, the Liberal Democratic Party) to make TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language) mandatory for entrance exams at all Japanese universities.
TOEFL is a test to assess a person's English reading, writing, listening and speaking ability. The shinraisei (信頼性, reliability) and kyakkansei (客観性, objectivity) of hantei (判定, assessment) delivered by TOEFL is considered among the highest level in this kind of test. Many universities in English-speaking countries use TOEFL to determine whether to accept or reject applicants.
It has often been said that English communication ability is far lower in Japan than in other countries. The ruling LDP's idea is in line with the long-term trend of trying to strengthen English skill. Using TOEFL is favorable because pundits say current juken eigo (受験英語, English tests for entrance exams) focus on bunpō (文法, grammar) and dokkai (読解, reading comprehension) but do not assess communication ability in English.