A new binary model for university examination timetabling: a case study

Abstract

Examination timetabling problem (ETP) is one of the most important issues in universities. An improper timetable may result in students' dissatisfaction as it may not let them study enough between two sequential exams. In addition, the many exams to be scheduled, the large number of students who have taken different courses, the limited number of rooms, and some constraints such as no conflict in a single student's exams make it very difficult to schedule experimentally. A mathematical programming model is required to formulate such a sophisticated problem. In this paper, a new binary model is developed for ETP. The novelty of the paper can be discussed in two directions. The first one is that a course can be offered more than once in a semester. If a course is requested by a few students, then it is enough to be offered once. If the number of students requesting a course is more than the maximum number of students who are allowed to attend a single class, then the course is multi-offered. The second novelty is that sharing a room for two simultaneous exams is allowed. Also, the model considers some hard and soft constraints, and the objective function is set in such a way that soft constraints are satisfied as much as possible. Finally, the model is applied in a sample department and is solved by GAMS.

A spreadsheet-based decision support system for examination timetabling

“…In 2018, there was an update to the curriculum of the department. [18] 2004 CTP Constraint programming ✓ A computer system based on multiple agents Qu and Burke [12] 2007 ETP Decomposition -Qu et al [13] 2009 ETP IP + decomposition [21] 2011 CTP IP ✓ A computer system Miranda et al [20] 2012 CTP IP ✓ Web-based Gogos et al [7] 2012 ETP IP + Heuristic -Komijan and Koupaie [10] 2012 ETP Binary model -McCollum et al [5] 2012 ETP IP -Arbaoui et al [6] 2015 ETP MIP + decomposition -Cavdur and Kose [9] 2016 ETP MIP + heuristic -Lanch et al [16] 2016 • Each exam must be assigned to a specific day and slot.…”

Penerapan Model Integer Linear Programming Dalam Optimasi Penjadwalan Perkuliahan Secara Otomatis

“…Penelitian [12], [13] merumuskan penjadwalan perkuliahan menggunakan ILP dengan metode Goal Programming. Sedangkan penelitian [14], [15] menerapkan model ILP ke dalam pembuatan jadwal ujian universitas.…”

A Two-Phase Solution Approach for a Real-Life Examination Timetabling Problem

“…Güncel çalışmalardan Komijan ve Koupaei [18], aynı dersin farklı şubelerinin sınavlarının bir arada yapılması durumunu dikkate alan ve farklı sınavların aynı salonu paylaşmasına izin veren bir 0-1 tam sayılı programlama modeli geliştirmiş ve uygulamışlardır. Ahmad ve diğ.…”