With the signing of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration in 1987, Macao officially entered the transition period that preceded the transfer of sovereignty from Portugal to China. While the two national governments were negotiating intensively on the process and conditions of the transfer, the Government of Portuguese Macao started to overhaul its governance structures in light of the new political situation. As a result, in 1992 the School of Techniques, originally under the Office of Chinese Affairs for the training of translators and interpreters, became part of Macao Polytechnic Institute and was renamed the School of Languages and Translation. The transition from a civil service training institution to a higher education institution, however, was not completed at a stroke; it was not until five years later that this historic change was finally completed. For the first time in its history, Macao had a formal tertiary educational programme in translation aligned with international educational standards.