The National Languages Committee was established in 1919 by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China with the purpose of standardizing and popularizing the usage of Standard Mandarin in the country. The committee was known in English as the Mandarin Promotion Council or the National Languages Promotion Committee until 2003, but the Chinese name has not changed. The phrase Guoyu typically refers to Standard Mandarin, but could also be interpreted as referring to "national languages". The reorganization of the Executive Yuan made the duties of the National Languages Committee be transferred to the Department of Lifelong Education's fourth sector from 2013.