A hybrid grouping genetic algorithm for assigning students to preferred laboratory groups

  • Authors:

  • Luis E. Agustín-Blas;Sancho Salcedo-Sanz;Emilio G. Ortiz-García;Antonio Portilla-Figueras;Ángel M. Pérez-Bellido

  • Affiliations:

  • Grupo de Heurísticos Modernos de Optimización y Diseño de Redes (GHEODE), Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, M ...;Grupo de Heurísticos Modernos de Optimización y Diseño de Redes (GHEODE), Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, M ...;Grupo de Heurísticos Modernos de Optimización y Diseño de Redes (GHEODE), Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, M ...;Grupo de Heurísticos Modernos de Optimización y Diseño de Redes (GHEODE), Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, M ...;Grupo de Heurísticos Modernos de Optimización y Diseño de Redes (GHEODE), Department of Signal Theory and Communications, Universidad de Alcalá, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, M ...

  • Venue:
  • Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

This paper presents a novel application of the hybrid grouping genetic algorithm in a problem related to university timetabling. Specifically, the assignment of students to laboratory groups is tackled. This problem includes an important constraint of capacity, due to laboratories usually have a maximum number of equips or computers available, so the number of total students in a group is constrained to be equal or less than the capacity of the laboratory. In addition, our approach considers the case in which the students provide a sorted list of preferred laboratory groups, so the objective of the assignment must take this point into account. A variation of the problem in which a balanced number of students per group is required (lecturer preferences) is also studied in this paper. The performance of the approach is shown in different test problems and in a real application in a Spanish University.