About the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI)

The CQI is the professional body for experts in improving product, project and service quality. For more than 100 years, we've been championing organisational excellence by setting professional standards for quality management in the UK and globally.

With 19,000 members in 100 countries, we are the partner of choice for quality management practitioners and, through our International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA) certification, for systems audit professionals.

We’re the only body that can award Chartered Quality Professional status. And our independence, global perspective and cross-sector outlook makes us trusted advisors to the UK and international Quality communities, industry and practitioners.

Our Royal Charter

The CQI was granted Royal Charter in 2006, having demonstrated pre-eminence, public interest, stability and permanence. This was followed in 2007 by the power to confer individual Chartered status for quality management professionals.

Our Charter and Bye-laws constitute our governing document, setting out our charitable purpose, our powers and how we are constituted. To amend our Charter, we need approval from our individual corporate members, as well as approval from the Privy Council and endorsement from the Charity Commission.

Our purpose

As a registered Charity with a Royal Charter, our purpose is to advance the practice of quality management in all sectors for the benefit of society.

Ever since we were founded in 1919 as a technical inspection association, we've stayed true to the same fundamental purpose: to improve the ability of organisations to deliver the very best for consumers and stakeholders. We’re committed to developing and championing ways of reducing risk of failure and improving value in the delivery of products, projects and services that benefit organisations by improving competitiveness and contribute to a better quality of life for society.

Our vision

To be globally recognised as the leading professional body for quality.

With members in 100 countries and organisations reliant on global markets and supply chains to deliver superior customer experience, we aim to be the go-to professional body for quality management practice.

We do this by:

• influencing policy and practice to convince decision makers that quality management is a key weapon for national, sector and organisational competitiveness.
• establishing an internationally recognised gold standard for quality professionals, to ensure that the quality profession is trusted and valued as an evidence-based and outcomes-driven community of experts who really do make organisations better and better.