If you are interested in becoming a Chartered Quality Institute member and would like to progress your application, the process and information is all here.
Look at the criteria online here and decide which level of membership suits you best. If you are in doubt apply for the higher level of membership. If you do not meet the criteria for the level you have chosen then you will be offered membership at the appropriate level for you.
No, that is no longer necessary.
Ideally, yes. However, we recognise that not everyone will know a CQI member. Therefore your referee can be someone who holds a position of authority or holds a prominent position within the community. Your referee should have known you for a minimum of two years, know you well enough to be able to endorse your CV and other submitted documents.
Yes. If you wish to be a Member or a Fellow of the CQI but you do not want to commit to Continual Professional Development (CPD) then you can apply to be a non-chartered member of the CQI.
Yes, you need to prepare a plan of your CPD objectives and maintain a record of CPD achieved. You can use CQI0007 and CQI0008 for this purpose although other formats are also acceptable.
CPD forms only need to be sent to us if we request them from you. This will happen if you are selected as part of the annual sample.
The experiential route is slightly more expensive because it takes longer for the membership panel to assess experiential route applications and is therefore more expensive for us to administer.
If you have a degree that you think covers the necessary modules of the Diploma in Quality (D1 and D2), send the syllabus of your course with your application and the acceptability of your course will be assessed with your membership application. If you have a qualification that you think is a degree level qualification, but that does not cover the elements of Diploma necessary, you can apply with that degree in conjunction with D1 and D2. If your qualification does not meet the required standards you will be notified.
If you are applying for Associate or Student level membership, your application will be processed and you will receive your certificate and acknowledgement letter within 5 working days. This is dependent on you sending valid payment along with your application. No certificates will be sent out without payment.
If you are applying for the Chartered grades (MCQI CQP and FCQI CQP), you will receive an acknowledgement email or letter as soon as we have received your application. This is so that you know that your application has arrived safely. If you have not sent the appropriate information, we will inform you at this stage. Applications will then be sent to the Membership Assessment Panel to be marked. Applications will not be marked until we have received your application fee. We will then inform you as to whether or not your application has been accepted. We will send you an invitation to pay your subscription, which will cover you until the end of the calendar year. When you have paid your subscription fee, you have officially accepted the grade that we have offered you. We will then send you your membership certificate.
The Body of Quality Knowledge is the framework that defines the current boundaries of knowledge of the quality professional within the UK. It is set out as simple statements of knowledge that can be used and developed by user groups such as the educational establishment, training establishments, CQI membership services and those organisations that need to define guidance or competences for their quality professionals.
Level l of the Body of Quality Knowledge provides an overview of the current boundaries of the knowledge of the profession. Level ll expands on Level l to the extent considered useful for the user groups, ie Level ll is not intended to be restrictive nor unduly prescriptive in limiting user groups that wish to extend the current boundaries of the profession’s knowledge.
Competence is the application of knowledge, skill and experience: the ability to perform to standards required in employment across a range of circumstances and to meet the changing demands of your profession.
You will be applying for a qualification that is deemed equivalent to a degree and therefore there must be a rigorous assessment of evidence of experiential prior learning.
To enable the assessors to identify which evidence is being used to meet which elements of the Body of Quality Knowledge. Please reference all evidence submitted to the electronic index provided. If you use a piece of evidence more than once, or more than one piece of evidence for any element, please ensure that all reference numbers are clearly shown.
Evidence should be sufficient to show that you have some experience of a particular element. Do not send in volumes of quality manuals and procedures. The contents pages of a document should suffice, but annotate it with a note on your part in its production. Ask your referee, a colleague, client or a senior member of staff to confirm your involvement.
The assessors are looking for quality, not quantity. Do not send irrelevant information to pad out the portfolio. Referenced and certified evidence is worth more than endless files.
No. The assessors will be looking for a cross section of knowledge and experience that indicates that you are a rounded quality professional. Do not be put off if you do not have evidence for all of the elements, no one ever will. However, you must address all six modules of the Body of Quality Knowledge.
Examples include:
Remember that a countersigned photocopy of an original document will carry more weight than an unverifiable computer printout. Documents submitted should be initialled by your referee.
We need to see clear evidence that the documents you send to us can be linked to you in some way, e.g. attendance at a management review or any other meetings need to show your name in attendance and some input and perhaps actions. Do not send information that cannot be attributed to you. If there is no evidence that you have any involvement in an activity, don’t send it.
The assessors may review your CV or job description and write back to you suggesting material that they feel would strengthen your application.
Witness statements are a document signed by someone stating that they have knowledge of you, or are involved in a particular element that you have found difficult to justify with evidence.
Qualifications and training will be looked at as part of the assessment to cover gaps where your experience may be limited.
Yes, if one piece of evidence can be used for more than one element that is excellent. Cross-referencing evidence is very important.
It is difficult to be exact. Some applicants will be strong in some areas and weak in others. The assessors will make a judgement on the whole application. You are not expected to able to provide evidence for every element of every module; however, you must address each module.
If you cannot access the evidence, perhaps because you have left the employment where the activity took place, or your employer will not release the information, then ask a former manager or colleague to certify that you undertook the activity claimed. It is normally possible to seek advice from one of the assessors by phone before you start preparing your portfolio if your case is particularly difficult.
Yes. Your CPD records are particularly useful evidence and should be included.
All our assessors sign a confidentiality agreement. However, if the evidence is confidential then submit an extract that shows your involvement, or contact the CQI and we will look at how we can resolve the problem. Your evidence will be returned if you so request and if you pay the costs.
Yes. Please send it to membership@thecqi.org
You may go as far as you wish. Your CV and details of your qualifications will probably cover the whole of your career. However, realistically, most applicants may only have job related evidence for the last five to ten years. Remember that you are not expected to be able to produce evidence that you have undertaken every action shown in the Body of Quality Knowledge.
Not all CQI members have been involved with auditing or indeed ISO or other standards, so this is not essential. Certified audit plans, audit logs and non-conformance reports showing your involvement in this activity are of more value as evidence than files full of audit reports. If you are a registered IRCA auditor in any discipline then you only need to include your certification number and your audit log.
They are Corporate members of the CQI who have received training in assessing applications and are very experienced in a wide range of quality disciplines. Two assessors will assess your application. There is an appeals procedure. Remember, the assessors are on your side and are attempting to confirm that you are suitably qualified for membership. They are not trying to fail you, but they can only assess your competence based on the information you supply with your application. Please ensure that it is accurate, attributable to you, referenced to the correct section of the Body of Quality Knowledge requirements, and is legible.
You will be permitted to use MCQI CQP or FCQI CQP, depending on your grade of membership.
Yes, it is possible to be a CQP and retired. There is no set amount of CPD required: it is for you to determine the level of CPD appropriate to your current professional responsibilities.
It may be appropriate for you to set an objective that could be met through regular reading of Qualityworld and other relevant industry magazines and attendance/contribution at branch meetings.
No, individual chartered status is reserved for the MCQI and FCQI grades of membership. ACQI members will have to upgrade to MCQI or FCQI to achieve individual chartered status.
Yes, a new certificate will be issued to Members and Fellows who request an upgrade and agree to the CPD (continuing professional development) requirements. This will replace their existing certificate.
There is no cost associated with transferring to the Chartered Quality Professional grade for current MCQI and FCQI.
You will need to request a transfer to chartered status and agree to the CPD requirements; a further assessment is not required.
The CQI planning sheet (Word document) can be used for this purpose. How you assess your needs, plan and undertake the learning, develop the skills, reflect on the extent of your achievement and keep records is an individual choice.
The CPD log (Word document) has been designed to record the activities that you have completed during each 12-month period. It should have an explanation of what you learned, the extent to which you achieved your learning objective and how you applied this learning to your work as a quality professional.
There is no specified minimum number of hours that you have to meet. However you should undertake sufficient CPD to maintain your professional competence and enable you to achieve your personal professional goals. For guidance, an active quality professional would expect to spend at least 25 hours a year on CPD and would probably have some 3-4 key learning objectives.
In brief, chartered individuals are required to undertake and keep records of the following:
CPD is mandatory for CQI Chartered Quality Professionals (ie Chartered Members and Fellows) and there is a requirement for members at these grades to plan, undertake and keep records of CPD.
No, CEng is awarded under the regulations of the Engineering Council UK (EC UK) and the Chartered Quality Professional is not recognised by EC UK as the equivalent of CEng.
There are no plans to offer a route to CEng in the immediate future. The Engineering special interest group reviews this issue from time to time to test whether there is sufficient demand.
Members who are interested should declare their interest by emailing esig@thecqi.org
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