Modeling and solution of a complex university course timetabling problem

  • Authors:

  • Keith Murray;Tomáš Müller;Hana Rudová

  • Affiliations:

  • Space Management and Academic Scheduling, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN;Space Management and Academic Scheduling, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN;Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

  • Venue:
  • PATAT'06 Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Practice and theory of automated timetabling VI
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

The modeling and solution approaches being used to automate construction of course timetables at a large university are discussed. A course structure model is presented that allows this complex real-world problem to be described using a classical formulation. The problem is then tackled utilizing a course timetabling solver model that transforms it into a constraint satisfaction and optimization problem. The tiered structure of this approach provides flexibility that is helpful in solving the multiple subproblems that arise from decomposition of the university-wide problem. A production system has been partially implemented and results of early use are presented. Practical issues raised during the implementation of the automated timetabling system are also discussed.