Tamayuz Excellence is a multi-competition international initiative. The seven different international competitions award was established in 2012 in the UK and has annual cycles of various competitions; one of them is the Iraqi graduation projects.

The Iraqi graduation projects competition by Tamayuz, gives opportunity to all schools of architecture in Iraq, and Iraqi students all over the world to present their graduation projects, and presents various awards to the winners. The first winner is awarded a scholarship for studying Masters’s in Coventry University in the UK, while the second and third winners receive three months internship at Dewan Architects (one of the leading architecture firms in the Middle East) in Dubai, UAE, with a salary and accommodation.

The competition was judged by Dame Zaha Hadid in its first cycle, and later on included some of the most important names in the architectural theory and practice, both Iraqi and international.

In the 2020 cycle, the architecture department at TIU seized several awards in this category. The second place in the competition was secured by TIU student “Noor Faisal Karimkhan”. Her graduation project was a (Vault House Dormitory) for students, which according to the jury was nicely planned, livable, with carefully selected materials and proportions. The third place in the competition was also secured by a TIU student “Dastan Othman Hasan”, for her project (City as a museum). The project revived a traditional urban neighborhood in Erbil called “Taajeel”, where she attempted to replace an old path with a green corridor, and revive the memory of the place by rebuilding certain important buildings and connect them with a continuous path.

In the same cycle, the architecture department at TIU received the award of “The architectural school of the year” for having the largest number of projects in the first place.

Another award is the “Hisham Munir” award for the Iraqi Academic of the Year. This award was previously known as the Supervisor of the Year, and this award was given to “No’man Bayaty” Lecturer at the Architectural Department at TIU, for supervising both of the projects in the second and third place.

The Architecture Department at TIU continues to grow and produce a high-level outcome. Despite being very new, the department is able to compete with colleges and universities established decades ago and prove its place amongst them as a serious competitor.