A Modified Migrating Bird Optimization For University Course Timetabling Problem

2014 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lam Way Shen ◽  
Hishammuddin Asmuni ◽  
Fong Cheng Weng
Keyword(s):  
Quadratic Assignment Problem ◽  
Iterated Local Search ◽  
Quadratic Assignment ◽  
Local Optima ◽  
Course Timetabling ◽  
Timetabling Problem ◽  
University Course Timetabling ◽  
Benchmark Datasets ◽  
Course Timetabling Problem ◽  
University Course

University course timetabling problem is a dilemma which educational institutions are facing due to  various demands to be achieved in limited resources. Migrating bird optimization (MBO) algorithm is a new meta-heuristic algorithm which is inspired by flying formation of migrating birds. It has been applied successfully in tackling quadratic assignment problem and credit cards fraud detection problem. However, it was reported that MBO will get stuck in local optima easily. Therefore, a modified migrating bird optimization algorithm is proposed to solve post enrolment-based course timetabling. An improved neighbourhood sharing mechanism is used with the aim of escaping from local optima. Besides that, iterated local search is selected to be hybridized with the migrating bird optimization in order to further enhance its exploitation ability. The proposed method was tested using Socha’s benchmark datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperformed the basic MBO and it is capable of producing comparable results as compared with existing methods that have been presented in literature. Indeed, the proposed method is capable of addressing university course timetabling problem and promising results were obtained.

scholarly journals Solving University Course Timetabling Problem Using Multi-Depth Genetic Algorithm

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 ◽  
pp. 01001
Author(s):  
Alfian Akbar Gozali ◽  
Shigeru Fujimura
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Individual Student ◽  
Course Timetabling ◽  
Timetabling Problem ◽  
Search Spaces ◽  
University Course Timetabling ◽  
Course Timetabling Problem ◽  
University Course ◽  
The University ◽  
Additional Constraints

The University Course Timetabling Problem (UCTP) is a scheduling problem of assigning teaching event in certain time and room by considering the constraints of university stakeholders such as students, lecturers, and departments. The constraints could be hard (encouraged to be satisfied) or soft (better to be fulfilled). This problem becomes complicated for universities which have an immense number of students and lecturers. Moreover, several universities are implementing student sectioning which is a problem of assigning students to classes of a subject while respecting individual student requests along with additional constraints. Such implementation enables students to choose a set of preference classes first then the system will create a timetable depend on their preferences. Subsequently, student sectioning significantly increases the problem complexity. As a result, the number of search spaces grows hugely multiplied by the expansion of students, other variables, and involvement of their constraints. However, current and generic solvers failed to meet scalability requirement for student sectioning UCTP. In this paper, we introduce the Multi-Depth Genetic Algorithm (MDGA) to solve student sectioning UCTP. MDGA uses the multiple stages of GA computation including multi-level mutation and multi-depth constraint consideration. Our research shows that MDGA could produce a feasible timetable for student sectioning problem and get better results than previous works and current UCTP solver. Furthermore, our experiment also shows that MDGA could compete with other UCTP solvers albeit not the best one for the ITC-2007 benchmark dataset.

scholarly journals The application of Coarse-Grained Parallel Genetic Algorithm with Hadoop in University Intelligent Course-Timetabling System

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Liping Wu
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Educational Administration ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Map Reduce ◽  
Parallel Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Course Timetabling ◽  
Timetabling Problem ◽  
University Course Timetabling ◽  
Course Timetabling Problem ◽  
University Course

The university course-timetabling problem is a NP-C problem. The traditional method of arranging course is inefficient, causes a high conflict rate of teacher resource or classroom resource, and is poor satisfaction in students. So it does not meet the requirements of modern university educational administration management. However, parallel genetic algorithm (PGA) not only have the advantages of the traditional genetic algorithm(GA), but also take full advantage of the computing power of parallel computing. It can improve the quality and speed of solving effectively, and have a broad application prospect in solving the problem of university course-timetabling problem. In this paper, based on the cloud computing platform of Hadoop, an improved method of fusing coarse-grained parallel genetic algorithm (CGPGA) and Map/Reduce programming model is deeply researched, and which is used to solve the problem of university intelligent courses arrangement. The simulation experiment results show that, compared with the traditional genetic algorithm, the coarse-grained parallel genetic algorithm not only improves the efficiency of the course arrangement and the success rate of the course, but also reduces the conflict rate of the course. At the same time, this research makes full use of the high parallelism of Map/Reduce to improve the efficiency of the algorithm, and also solves the problem of university scheduling problem more effectively.

Fitness Distance Correlation(FDC) As A Hardness Prediction For University Course Timetabling Problem

2008 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abu Bakar Md Sultan ◽  
Ramlan Mahmod ◽  
Md Nasir Sulaiman ◽  
Mohd Rizam Abu Bakar ◽  
Mohd Taufik Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Distance Correlation ◽  
Course Timetabling ◽  
Timetabling Problem ◽  
University Course Timetabling ◽  
Hardness Prediction ◽  
Fitness Distance Correlation ◽  
Course Timetabling Problem ◽  
University Course
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