The Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University or Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts (Đại học Mỹ thuật Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh) is a university in Bình Thạnh District, Ho Chi Minh City. The predecessor of this school was the École des Dessin, founded by André Joyeux in 1913, which became the École des Arts appliqués de Gia Đinh or School of Applied Arts of Gia Đinh (Trung học Trang trí Mỹ thuật Gia Định) from 1940 to 1971. From 1971, under the administration of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), the school was upgraded to become Saigon College of Fine Arts. The Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts College was founded in 1976. In 1981, the Vietnamese prime minister decided to found the university as it is today and it was renamed the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University.