Since its inception in 1966 in the USA, PADI has grown with members in more than 175 countries and territories and international service offices in nine countries. Approximately 55 percent of all divers worldwide are certified by PADI. There are other certifying organizations like NAUI, SSI, BSAC, CMAS, etc. and they all provide diver training to consumers, each with its own system of diver education. However, with PADI being internationally recognized and respected, more people learn to dive with PADI than all others combined.

The PADI certification is the most widely recognized diver certification. This simply means that if you are a PADI certified diver, your certification is accepted instantly at dive centers anywhere in the world.

PADI courses are designed to make learning enjoyable and worthwhile. You get in and under the water quickly, scuba diving. Under the guidance of your professional PADI Instructor, you gain confidence while mastering important safety concepts and skills. You pick up key information as well as helpful tips by interacting with PADI educational materials – manual, videos, workbooks, multimedia discs, etc. Credentialed instructional designers use state-of-the-art technology and learning theories to create PADI materials with you, the student diver, in mind.

Your PADI Instructor makes sure that you are ready for certification using the concept of performance-based learning. This means that you progress as you demonstrate that you have mastered specific performance requirements essential to becoming a diver. Your instructor is there to help you meet these requirements, regardless of how quickly or slowly you master them. You must earn a PADI certification, but you do so in an encouraging and well-supported learning environment.

The unsurpassed quality of PADI materials and the educational validity of PADI courses has been independently acknowledged by international educational and vocational training authorities. The American Council on Education (ACE) and Canadian Learning Bank have both evaluated and recommended PADI courses for college credit equivalency. PADI Instructor Development Courses provided through PADI affiliated centres have received vocational training recognition by the Vocational Education Training and Accreditation Board (VETAB) in Australia, by the New Zealand Qualification Authority and in the United Kingdom on the National Qualification Framework. To view the college credit page please go to: http://www.padi.com/padi/en/footerlinks/collegecredits.aspx