It is possible to have credit granted for previous courses taken from a recognized training institution. Academic assessments are available for students registered with Pacific Rim Early Childhood Institute Inc. that wish to have previous academic transcripts in ECE assessed. Pacific Rim will assess equivalency for courses taken in the past 10 years from other institutions which are recognized by the Ministry of Children and Family Development. Equivalency is only given for courses with similar credit hours and curriculum content. The required hours for each course are set by the Ministry of Children and Family Development and can be viewed at www.earlychildhoodeducator.com/programs under each individual course. ECE Programs in BC that are recognized by the Ministry of Children and Family Development meet the same basic occupational standards and competencies, but this does not ensure courses easily transfer between institutions. Institutions may block the curriculum content together differently or divide topics into multiple courses meaning several courses from one institution may be required for a single course equivalency at another. Courses taken from different programs other than ECE (i.e. Teaching and Nursing) are not often equivalent to ECE courses as the content for ECE is very specific for children 0-5. Therefore, courses focused on K-12 and adults are not considered equivalent to the provincial ECE requirements and cannot be given equivalency. Courses taken from institutions outside BC should be first assessed by the Ministry of Children and Family Development (BC ECE Registry) to determine out of province or country equivalence prior to applying for an academic assessment.