The origins of the CQI – 100 years

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The Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) is celebrating its centenary this year. Many things have changed during these 100 years, but do you know how it all started?

During the First World War, the British government created the Ministry of Munitions to address the urgent need to standardise armament production.

Members of its Inspection Department established the Technical Inspection Association (TIA) to further develop engineering and chemical inspections. The TIA held its first general meeting on 1 April 1919. The association had 500 members by the summer of that year, and the cost of membership was a little more than £1.

The TIA became the Institution of Engineering Inspection (IEI) in 1922 and opened its membership to industrial and government inspectors. The IEI promoted and supported the work of qualified engineering and industry inspectors. Companies were invited to become affiliated members of the institution.

Members in the United Kingdom (Glasgow and Manchester) and Germany (Essen) started creating informal groups, and in 1930 an official branch was launched in Darlington, UK. In the subsequent years, the IEI established branches in Birmingham, the Midlands, Sheffield, the North East Coast, Coventry, Manchester and Bristol, UK. Today the institute has 25 branches worldwide.

During the Second World War, many members relocated and worked long hours to support the war effort. Those serving in the forces had the option to freeze their membership. In February 1944, the institution had approximately 1,200 members.

Since then, much has changed: the IEI changed its name to the Institute of Quality Assurance and then to the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), and the Register of Certificated Auditors (RCA) became the International Register of Certificated Auditors (IRCA).

Today, CQI and IRCA has nearly 20,000 members across the globe. But it all started with that first meeting back in 1919!