circles use: Cause-and-effect diagrams (sometimes called Ishikawa or "fishbone" diagrams) Pareto charts Process mapping, data gathering tools such as check sheets Graphical tools such as histograms, frequency diagrams, spot charts and pie charts Run charts and control charts Scatter plots and correlation analysis Flowcharts Student quality circles Student quality circles work on the original philosophy of total quality management. The idea of SQCs was presented by City Montessori School (CMS) Lucknow India at a conference in Hong Kong in October 1994. It was developed and mentored by two engineers of Indian Railways PC, Bihari and Swami Das, in association with Principal Dr. Kamran of CMS Lucknow India. They were inspired and facilitated by Jagdish Gandhi, who founded CMS after his visit to Japan, where he learned about Kaizen. CMS has continued to conduct international conventions on student quality circles every two years. After seeing its utility, educators from many countries started such circles. The World Council for Total Quality & Excellence in Education was established in 1999 with its Corporate Office in Lucknow and head office in Singapore. It monitors and facilitates student quality circle activities in its member countries, which number more than a dozen. SQC's are considered to be a co-curricular activity. They have been established in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Mauritius, Iran, UK (Kingston University and started in University of Leicester), and USA. In Nepal, Prof. Dinesh P. Chapagain has been promoting the approach through QUEST-Nepal since 1999. He has written a book entitled A Guide Book on Students' Quality Circle: An Approach to prepare Total Quality People, which is considered a standard guide to promote SQC's in academia for students' personality development. See also Kaizen Participatory management References Quality management