Prior to 1975 in the south training in spoken drama, cải lương and hát bội was carried out by the Sài Gòn National School of Music (Trường Quốc gia Âm nhạc Sài Gòn). After reunification in 1975 this National School was split into two colleges – the Hồ Chí Minh National School of Music (Trường Quốc gia Âm nhạc Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh, now known as the Hồ Chí Minh City Conservatory of Music) and the School of Stage Arts II Hồ Chí Minh City (Trường Nghệ thuật Sân khấu II Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh). In 1997 the latter was merged with the former Secondary School of Film II Hồ Chí Minh City (Trường Trung học Điện ảnh II tại Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh) to become today’s Hồ Chí Minh City College of Stage Arts and Film. Programmes offered by the College include four-year College Diploma programmes in Stage Directing, Film Directing, Cinematography and Video Filming, Theatre and Film Acting, Cải lương and Hát bội Performance and Music, Theatre and Film Theory and Criticism and Stage and Film Set Design, and three-year Secondary Certificate programmes in Stage and Film performance and Cải lương and Hát bội Performance and Music. Current plans include the setting up of a Choreography Department. The College’s syllabus is designed to permit gifted students to continue their studies as undergraduates at various arts and culture universities. In the years since its establishment the College has produced many of southern Việt Nam’s most famous artists as well as many managers of provincial and municipal culture houses and services of culture and information.