Nearly 2,700 students from all over the world attended the eighth-annual International Convention on Student’s Quality Control Circles in India in December 2005. The event, which was organized by the World Council for Total Quality and Excellence in Education (WCTQEE), was held at the City Montessori School in Lucknow, India. With 30,000 students, City Montessori is the largest private school in the world on a single campus. Jagdish Gandhi, founder and manager of CMS, is also president of WCTQEE. CMS teachers present the quality circles methodology as part of the school’s curriculum, a nod to the enduring popularity of quality circles in India, says Don Dewar, president of QCI International Inc. and a conference sponsor.

“Many, many organizations in India are using quality circles, and they’re getting great benefits,” Dewar says. “U.S. companies were looking for the next thing in quality, but Indian companies don’t jump that quickly. There’s great interest there.”

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