University timetabling

— University course timetabling problem is one of the hard problems and it must be done for each term frequently which is an exhausting and time consuming task. The main technique in the presented approach is focused on developing and making the process of timetabling common lecturers among different departments of a university scalable. The aim of this paper is to improve the satisfaction of common lecturers among departments and then minimize the loss of resources within departments. The applied method is to use a collaborative search approach. In this method, at first all departments perform their scheduling process locally; then two clustering and traversing agents are used where the former is to cluster common lecturers among departments and the latter is to find unused resources among departments. After performing the clustering and traversing processes, the mapping operation in done based on principles of common lecturers constraint in redundant resources in order to gain the objectives of the problem. The problem's evaluation metric is evaluated via using fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm on common lecturer constraints within a multi agent system. An applied dataset is based on meeting the requirements of scheduling in real world among various departments of Islamic Azad University, Ahar Branch and the success of results would be in respect of satisfying uniform distribution and allocation of common lecturers on redundant resources among different departments .

A produção de grades horárias (Timetabling) escolares e acadêmicas é um problema complexo de alocação de um conjunto de eventos (exames, seminários, projetos ou aulas) e um conjunto de agentes (instrutores, monitores ou professores) em um conjunto finito de horários, sujeito a um amplo conjunto de restrições. O problema deve ser resolvido de forma a maximizar a possibilidade de alocação ou minimizar as violações de restrições. Em muitas instituições de ensino, este trabalho é realizado manualmente, necessitando de vários profissionais, gastando um longo tempo e nem sempre produzindo a melhor alocação de recursos para a instituição. Este trabalho aborda teoria e aplicações de Algoritmos Genéticos (AGs) na resolução de Problemas de
Timetabling em instituições de ensino fundamental, médio e universitário. Análises realizadas neste trabalho - de diversos artigos, dissertações e monografias publicados na literatura - mostram que os AGs utilizados na resolução do problema em questão, quando testados em diferentes situações, forneceram resultados satisfatórios - tanto referentes a qualidade das soluções obtidas, quanto ao tempo gasto para produzi-las - constituindo-se, portanto em uma ferramenta adequada para resolver problemas de Timetabling escolar e acadêmico.

Streszczenie: W badaniach operacyjnych zagadnienie układania rozkładów zajęć wyróżnia się ze względu na dużą komplikację modelu, problemy związane z doborem adekwatnej metody, a także czas uzyskania rozwiązania. Zagadnienie to rozwiązuje się programowaniem matematycznym i metodami grafowymi. Jednakże rozwiązanie otrzymane samodzielnie każdą z tych metod nie spełnia kryteriów praktycznego zastosowania. Dopiero rozkład zajęć ułożony z wykorzystaniem elementów obu metod, został zaakceptowany do aplikacji w rzeczywistej placówce.

In this study, we investigate an adaptive decomposition strategy that automatically divides examinations into difficult and easy sets for constructing an examination timetable. The examinations in the difficult set are considered to be hard to place and hence are listed before the ones in the easy set. Moreover, the examinations within each set are ordered using different strategies based on graph colouring heuristics. Initially, the examinations are placed into the easy set. During the construction process, the examinations that cannot be scheduled are identified as the ones causing infeasibility and are moved forward in the difficult set to ensure earlier assignment than the others for the subsequent attempts. On the other hand, the examinations that can be scheduled remain in the easy set. Within the easy set, a new subset called the boundary set
is introduced to accommodate shuffling strategies to change the given ordering of examinations. The proposed approach which incorporates different ordering and shuffling strategies is explored
on the Carter benchmark problems. The empirical results show that its performance is promising and comparable to existing constructive approaches.

We present a dual-objective course-timetabling system designed to construct course schedules for the Science Division at Rollins College. Our work builds on the system described in [Wehrer and Yellen (2013)], which models the timetabling problem as a vertex-coloring problem in a weighted graph. The weighted graph model allows the system to incorporate both hard and soft constraints by assigning a 2-component weight to each edge that reflects the undesirability of assigning various pairs of timeslots to its endpoints. An earlier version, using single-component penalty weights, was initially developed in [Kiaer and Yellen (1992)]. The two objectives of our system are: (1) minimize the number and severity of conflicts resulting from the schedule; and (2) create compact schedules for students and faculty. Accordingly, the two edge-weight components are: the conflict penalty, incurred when the endpoints are assigned overlapping timeslots (colors); and the proximity penalty, incurred when...

Univeristy Timetabling is a way of allocating students who take courses, lecturers who teach courses, and space used for lectures at available time slots. The problem that often arises in the lecture scheduling process is the occurrence of clash of subjects because lecturers or students with the same semester are scheduled in the same time slot, and violations occur in scheduling the lecturers' requests not to be scheduled at certain time slots. For this reason, the scheduling of courses needs to be improved to optimize the available resources. The technique of graph node coloring with the Welsh Powell algorithm was chosen as the starting method in this study. With the graph coloring technique each event will be calculated the degree of connection with other events and then given a certain color based on the order of degrees. After that each event will be placed sequentially into a time period based on the priority of the restrictions made.
The results of the study show that coloring is the basis for allocating time and space slots in the scheduling process. In this study the process was made in 2 scenarios with different sessions available, available space, and available days. The two scenarios show that with scenario 2 time slots, 4 spaces, and 5 days get optimal results where constraint violations occur at least and the level of space utilization is greater.

In this paper, we combine graph coloring heuristics, namely largest degree and saturation degree with the concept of a heuristic modifier under the framework of squeaky wheel optimization for solving a set of examination timetabling problems. Both heuristics interact intelligently and adaptively determine the ordering of examinations to be processed during each of iteration. A variety of approaches based on different heuristics and their combinations are investigated. Experimental results on a set of benchmark problems show that the proposed approaches can produce high quality solutions comparable to the other constructive methods. For one problem instance, the best results based on constructive heuristics provided in the literature are improved by one of the proposed methods. We conclude that our approach is simple, yet effective.

Penjadwalan perkuliahan merupakan suatu cara mengalokasikan mahasiswa yang mengambil mata kuliah, dosen yang mengampu mata kuliah, dan ruang yang digunakan untuk perkuliahan pada slot waktu yang tersedia. Permasalahan yang kerap muncul dalam proses penjadwalan perkuliahan adalah terjadinya bentrok mata kuliah karena dosen atau mahasiswa dengan semester yang sama dijadwalkan pada slot waktu yang sama, dan terjadi pelanggaran dalam penjadwalan terhadap permintaan dosen untuk tidak dijadwalkan pada slot waktu tertentu. Untuk itu, penjadwalan mata kuliah perlu diperbaiki untuk mengoptimalkan sumberdaya yang ada.Teknik pewarnaan simpul graf dengan algoritma Welsh Powell dipilih sebagai metode pendjawalan dalam penelitian ini. Dengan teknik pewarnaan graf setiap kejadian akan dihitung derajat keterhubungannya dengan kejadian lain dan kemudian diberikan warna tertentu berdasarkan urutan derajatnya. Setelah itu setiap kejadian akan ditempatkan secara sekuensial ke dalam periode waktu berdasarkan prioritas batasan yang dibuat.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pewarnaan menjadi dasar dalam pengalokasian slot waktu dan ruang dalam proses penjadwalan. Pada penelitian ini proses tersebut dibuat 2 skenario dengan perbedaan sesi yang tersedia, ruang yang tersedia, dan hari yang tersedia. Dari kedua skenario tersebut menunjukkan bahwa dengan skenario 2 slot waktu, 4 ruang, dan 5 hari mendapatkan hasil yang optimal dimana pelanggaran constraint terjadi paling sedikit dan tingkat utilisasi ruang lebih besar.

University course timetabling problem is one of the hard problems and it must be done for each term frequently which is an exhausting and time consuming task. The main technique in the presented approach is focused on developing and making the process of timetabling common lecturers among different departments of a university scalable. The aim of this paper is to improve the satisfaction of common lecturers among departments and then minimize the loss of resources within departments. The applied method is to use a collaborative search approach. In this method, at first all departments perform their scheduling process locally; then two clustering and traversing agents are used where the former is to cluster common lecturers among departments and the latter is to find unused resources among departments. After performing the clustering and traversing processes, the mapping operation in done based on principles of common lecturers constraint in redundant resources in order to gain the objectives of the problem. The problem's evaluation metric is evaluated via using clustering algorithm k-means on common lecturer constraints within a multi agent system. An applied dataset is based on meeting the requirements of scheduling in real world among various departments of Islamic Azad University, Ahar Branch and the success of results would be in respect of satisfying uniform distribution and allocation of common lecturers on redundant resources among different departments.

University course timetabling problem is one of the hard problems and it must be done for each term frequently which is an exhausting and time consuming task. The main technique in the presented approach is focused on developing and making the process of timetabling common lecturers among different departments of a university scalable. The aim of this paper is to improve the satisfaction of common lecturers among departments and then minimize the loss of resources within departments. The applied method is to use a collaborative search approach. In this method, at first all departments perform their scheduling process locally; then two clustering and traversing agents are used where the former is to cluster common lecturers among departments and the latter is to find unused resources among departments. After performing the clustering and traversing processes, the mapping operation in done based on principles of common lecturers constraint in redundant resources in order to gain the o...

A pilot study into student preferences around start times of teaching activities and their tolerance of gaps between activities. This research was based on cohort specific feedback about the teaching timetable expressed in the National Student Survey (NSS) in 2016. The findings around a preferred working day support other research which suggest this preference transcends discipline. The findings also demonstrate that gap tolerance may vary based on the distance from campus a student lives. The aim of this paper is to introduce the concept of gap tolerance as a motivating factor for student's attendance and to encourage further discussion around the influence of the teaching timetable on student attendance.

In this paper, we investigate adaptive linear combinations of graph coloring heuristics with a heuristic modifier to address the examination timetabling problem. We invoke a normalisation strategy for each parameter in order to generalise the specific problem data. Two graph coloring heuristics were used in this study (largest degree and saturation degree). A score for the difficulty of assigning each examination was obtained from an adaptive linear combination of these two heuristics and examinations in the list were ordered based on this value. The examinations with the score value representing the higher difficulty were chosen for scheduling based on two strategies. We tested for single and multiple heuristics with and without a heuristic modifier with different combinations of weight values for each parameter on the Toronto and ITC2007 benchmark data sets. We observed that the combination of multiple heuristics with a heuristic modifier offers an effective way to obtain good solution quality. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach delivers promising results. We conclude that this adaptive linear combination of heuristics is a highly effective method and simple to implement.

Falmouth University specialises in Art, Design, Media, and Performance, attracting creative minds and visually attuned students and hosts significant numbers of dyslexic / dyspraxic students and staff. Prior to this JISC project the University was two years into a programme to implement University-wide student timetables. However, this project did not have the support of all academic staff and was not seen as delivering a relevant service to students. This JISC project allowed us to reassess the project's value and direction and to answer the question "Are timetables fit for purpose and if not, why not?" Aims and Objectives During 2010/11 the focus within timetabling was on organisation and management. This meant a significant investment in a review of our timetable processes and the trialling of an award level electronic timetable. 2011/12 was about trying to secure the process for achieving a robust timetable for shared space (which was achieved) and building a complete institution-wide timetable that also pulled together all learning and teaching activities in dedicated spaces (which was not achieved). This JISC project, initially to examine the usability of student timetables provided the space to conduct a wider and more profound assessment of timetable compliance. This included a 360-degree audit to understand why we failed to achieve robust and usable timetables for all awards and put us back on track to deliver individual student timetables at some point in the future (originally envisaged for 2013/14). Context A significant investment has been made in electronic student timetables at Falmouth University over the last three years. This is very much instep with the growth of the institution and is part of the maturity process that has seen two arts colleges being merged, the rapid growth in student numbers and courses and culminating in achievement of university status, thus providing Cornwall with its first University. It is as much about Cornwall catching up with the rest of the UK therefore, as it is the foundation of Britain's first and fastest growing University and managing what might be characterised as 'growing pains'. Up to mid-2012 Falmouth's investment in timetabling closely mirrored the JISC STEP goals and findings. The Business Case Competitive Pressures As far as we know, all credible institutions have implemented some form of institutional timetabling service. The student timetable, along with student records system and systems delivering learning and non-academic support are the main 'interfaces' that a student will experience during their life as a student.

The objective of this proposal is to implement a school day agenda focused on the learning rhythms of students of elementary and secondary schools using a genetic algorithm. The methodology of this proposal takes into account legal requirements and constraints on the assignment of teachers and classrooms in public educational institutions in Colombia. In addition, this proposal provides a set of constraints focused on cognitive rhythms and subjects are scheduled at the most convenient times according to the area of knowledge. The genetic algorithm evolves through a process of mutation and selection and builds a total solution based on the best solutions for each group. Sixteen groups in a school are tested and the results of class schedule assignments are presented. The quality of the solution obtained through the established approach is validated by comparing the results to the solutions obtained using another algorithm.

This paper proposes a multi-agent model for solving the university course timetabling problem. It is composed of cooperating agents enabling highly distributed processing of the problem and incorporating constraints that have not been considered by previous works. The aim of our model is to provide a best solution satisfying hard and soft constraints while reducing temporal complexity. To analyze the efficiency of our model, we give experimental results based on real instances of the Higher Business School of Tunis by analyzing the variation effect of the lecture and teacher numbers on the messages number and the CPU execution time, and the variation effect of the assignment priority score on the percentage of teacher's preferences satisfaction.

Undergraduate student researchers assisted with the design, delivery, and analysis for a project investigating low attendance at timetabled teaching sessions. Data was gathered from 208 students representing all four faculties on three Anglia Ruskin University campuses (i.e. Cambridge, Chelmsford, and Guild House, Peterborough), and comparison data was gathered from University Centre Peterborough.

Undergraduate student researchers assisted with the design, delivery, and analysis for a project investigating low attendance at timetabled teaching sessions. Data was gathered from 208 students representing all four faculties on three Anglia Ruskin University campuses (i.e. Cambridge, Chelmsford, and Guild House, Peterborough), and comparison data was gathered from University Centre Peterborough.

Penjadwalan perkuliahan merupakan suatu cara mengalokasikan mahasiswa yang mengambil mata kuliah, dosen yang mengampu mata kuliah, dan ruang yang digunakan untuk perkuliahan pada slot waktu yang tersedia. Permasalahan yang kerap muncul dalam proses penjadwalan perkuliahan adalah terjadinya bentrok mata kuliah karena dosen atau mahasiswa dengan semester yang sama dijadwalkan pada slot waktu yang sama, dan terjadi pelanggaran dalam penjadwalan terhadap permintaan dosen untuk tidak dijadwalkan pada slot waktu tertentu. Untuk itu, penjadwalan mata kuliah perlu diperbaiki untuk mengoptimalkan sumberdaya yang ada.Teknik pewarnaan simpul graf dengan algoritma Welsh Powell dipilih sebagai metode pendjawalan dalam penelitian ini. Dengan teknik pewarnaan graf setiap kejadian akan dihitung derajat keterhubungannya dengan kejadian lain dan kemudian diberikan warna tertentu berdasarkan urutan derajatnya. Setelah itu setiap kejadian akan ditempatkan secara sekuensial ke dalam periode waktu berdasarkan prioritas batasan yang dibuat.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pewarnaan menjadi dasar dalam pengalokasian slot waktu dan ruang dalam proses penjadwalan. Pada penelitian ini proses tersebut dibuat 2 skenario dengan perbedaan sesi yang tersedia, ruang yang tersedia, dan hari yang tersedia. Dari kedua skenario tersebut menunjukkan bahwa dengan skenario 2 slot waktu, 4 ruang, dan 5 hari mendapatkan hasil yang optimal dimana pelanggaran constraint terjadi paling sedikit dan tingkat utilisasi ruang lebih besar.

Kata Kunci: penjadwalan kuliah, pewarnaan graf, algoritma welsh-powell

This paper provides a mathematical treatment of the NP-hard post enrolment-based course timetabling problem and presents a powerful two-stage metaheuristic-based algorithm to approximately solve it. We focus particularly on the issue of solution space connectivity and demonstrate that when this is increased via specialised neighbourhood operators, the quality of solutions achieved is generally enhanced. Across a well-known suite of benchmark problem instances, our proposed algorithm is shown to produce results that are superior to all other methods appearing in the literature; however, we also make note of those instances where our algorithm struggles in comparison to others and offer evidence as to why.