An integer programming formulation for a case study in university timetabling

A novel 0-1 integer programming formulation of the university timetabling problem is presented. The model provides constraints for a great number of operational rules and requirements found in most academic institutions. Treated as an optimization problem, the objective is to minimize a linear cost function. With this objective, it is possible to consider the satisfaction of expressed preferences regarding teaching periods or days of the week or even classrooms for specified courses. Moreover, with suitable definition of the cost coefficients in the objective function it is possible to reduce the solution space and make the problem tractable. The model is solvable by existing software tools with IP solvers, even for large departments. The case of a five-year Engineering Department with a large number of courses and teachers is presented along with its solution as resulted from the presented IP formulation. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.