Timetabling problem for university as assignment of activities to resources (Q1086142)

The problem analyzed in this paper is to specify a timetable for class periods allowing the students to follow their selection of courses as much as possible. Furthermore, the timetable is established according to teachers and classrooms availabilities. The approach to solve the problem is to treat two subproblems sequentially. First a timetable is specified where the objective is to reduce the number of conflicts (two lectures involving the same students or requiring the same classroom scheduled simultaneously are said to be in conflict) and to respect the teacher availability as far as possible. Then, given a timetable, the classrooms are selected for the class periods according to their availability and to the specific requirements for the courses (laboratory, large room, small rootm, etc.). If there is a shortage of classrooms during some time periods, then the timetabling problem is solved again with additional conflicting situation for courses scheduled during the peak periods. The procedure is repeated until a classroom assignment can be specified for a timetable.