This year, Istanbul, Turkey hosted the 11th International Convention on Students’ İmece Circles. (ICSQCC’2008) on 26-28 august, 2008. The convention was organized by Quality and Peace Education Center (KALBE MER), Turkish Center for Schools of Quality and the Association for Continuous Improvement (Sü Ge Der) in collaboration with the World Council for Total Quality & Excellence in education (WCTQEE) and 2002 UNESCO Peace Education Awarded City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, India which is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee for 2008. We are prideful for collaborating with such a school which started the Students’ Quality Control Circles in 1994 for the first time in the world after observing the success of Quality Control Circles in industry introduced by Japan.

We welcomed 250 students, teachers, academicians, quality experts, professionals and managers from 13 different countries and 150 from Turkey. 23 keynotes, including; Mr. Jagdish Gandhi, President, WCTQEE and founder manager of CMS Chain of Schools, INDIA, Dr. (Mrs) Vineeta Kamran, Executive Director, WCTQEE and the Principal of CMS, INDIA, USA, Prof. Dr. Syed Ali, Dean, The John. Hopkins University, USA, Prof. Dr. Mary Stuart, Vice Rector, Kingston University, UK, Mr.P.C.Bihari, Executive Director, Mr.Andreas Plozenke, Director General, GERMANY, Ms. Leslie Janoe, President, Janoe Associates, USA, Mr.Abdul Wahid Mir, Director General, PAKISTAN, Mr. A. M. A. Awal, President, BSTQM, BANGLADESH, Prof. Dr. Dinesh Chapagain, WCTQEE Nepal DG and Head of QUEST-Nepal, Prof. Dr. Nilufer Eğrican, Vice Rector, Yeditepe University, and Prof. Dr. Ayşe Akyel, Director, Institute of Educational Sciences and Chair, Foreign Languages Education Department, Yeditepe University, TURKEY, Prof. Dr. Ali Baykal, Dean, Boğaziçi University, Educational Faculty, TURKEY, Mr. Salih Çelik, vice Minister, MNE, TURKEY, Prof. Dr. Kemal Kocabaş, Dokuz Eylül University, Prof. Dr. Oğuz Makal, Beykent University, Prof.Dr. Ümit Davaslıgil, İstanbul University, Prof.Dr.Selçuk Erez, Microsoft MEA Pil Manager Ms. Razan Fasheh enlightened the participants in their own fields.

Istanbul, as the host city of the 11th Convention was the meeting place of the participants and the boat tour on the Bosphorus fascinated all the guests. This historical event was also believed to be a trend setter for the new millennium focusing on the main theme:

 “Peace at Home, Peace in the World, on the way of training TQPs”.