The Role of Architectural Competition in the Learning Process of Architecture Students

— The architectural competition nowadays is growing rapidly. Everyone can easily access information about various architectural competitions via the internet. Myriad options, such as themes, levels, fees, and prizes, are offered in the architectural competition. Either architecture professionals and students from any country in the world can participate in it. The participation of architecture students in architectural competition has increased, as happened in the Department of Architecture Universitas Islam Indonesia. As an activity outside the formal education system, architectural competition thought to be able to improve students' ability to design. The reflective evaluation needs to be done with students to understand what happened in the activity from the student perspective. This paper seeks to find out the role of an architectural competition in the student learning process. In particular, to know what benefits students can gain through their participation in the event. The method used in this paper is by conducting a reflective questionnaire for students and alumni who have participated in various architectural competitions. The most important benefit of participating in such activities felt by students is that they can add new insights that are not obtained through lectures. It surpass the other benefit, such as in improving the ability to design, the ability to socialize through teamwork, the ability to manage time, the skills to use architectural software and visualization, the skills to deliver oral and written presentations, additional experiences through field studies, understanding of contextual matters that are currently happen, and financial gain. Architectural competition has a good effect and can be a way to build student character. needs to be an integral part of the student learning process because, in the long term, it can create a more sustainable architecture education system.