The Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), formerly known as the Institute of Quality Assurance (IQA), is the chartered body for quality professionals. It improves the performance of organizations by developing their capabilities in quality management. As a registered charity, the CQI exists to advance education in, knowledge of, and the practice of quality in industry, the public sector, and the voluntary sector.
The CQI also owns the International Register of Certified Auditors, the world's first and largest international certification body for auditors of management systems. IRCA certifies some 10,000 auditors in over 150 countries worldwide.
It is a contributor to policy issues at a national and international level.
Activities
CQI works to promote quality across a range of industries in both the public and private sectors, irrespective of company size. It provides training, education, and support for quality professionals and individuals responsible for quality management. It has a branch network of more than 30 local groups around the UK and three overseas, as well as online communities on LinkedIn. It has its own monthly magazine, Qualityworld, and a range of e-publications promoting quality approaches and tools.
The institute also has a network of special interest groups for members who are interested in a specific industry or quality practice. The groups include the Defense Industry Group, the Deming SIG, the Engineering SIG, the Integrated Management SIG, the Medical Technologies SIG, the Nuclear SIG, and the Pharmaceutical Quality Group. The oldest and most prolific of the groups is the PQG, which has published three pharmaceutical quality standards (PS 9000, PS 9001, and PS 9004) and 11 monographs.
IRCA
Formed in 1984, the International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA) is the world's original and largest international certification body for auditors of management systems. It certifies more than 15,000 auditors in over 150 countries worldwide. IRCA provides auditors, businesses, and industry with two main services:
1. certification of auditors of management systems These include:
consultants assisting organizations to develop and implement quality management systems certification body/registrar auditors, auditing organizations against ISO 9001 and other management system standards internal auditors, performing audits on suppliers or auditing their own organisations quality managers
2. approval of training organizations and certification of their auditor training courses. IRCA has approved over 90 training organisations, who together provide training for over 50,000 students each year in more than 100 countries.
IRCA offers certification programmes that recognise the competence of auditors who audit quality, software development, aerospace, maritime safety, pharmaceutical, food safety, environmental, information security, information technology service, occupational health and safety, social systems and business continuity management systems.
History
The CQI's roots date back to the early days of engineering inspection during the First World War. After frequent accidental detonations in munitions factories, the UK government created the Ministry of Munitions, which placed inspectors in factories to ensure procedures were being followed correctly. In 1919, the institute was first known as the Technical Inspection Association when it attended a conference held by Woolwich Royal Arsenal's Inspection Department in London. The institute began with 500 members and was originally headquartered at its secretary's office at 44 Bedford Row, London WC1.
On 10 November 1922 the TIA reformed as the Institution of Engineering Inspection, so that it could be open to industrial inspectors and inspectors employed by the UK government. In 1929, the institute's branch network was formed, with local groups meeting all over the UK. Throughout the 1930s, the profession developed further with the discovery of statistical quality control and in the 1940s the progression to 'quality control' rather than simple inspection. In March 1944, one member expressed concern at the loose way in which the term 'quality control' was being used. He then went on to propose that the IEI should be renamed 'The Institution of Quality Engineering', but this proposal met with opposition and was dropped.