A multiobjective framework for heavily constrained examination timetabling problems

Abstract

University examination timetabling is a challenging set partitioning problem that comes in many variations, and real world applications usually carry multiple constraints and require the simultaneous optimization of several (often conflicting) objectives. This paper presents a multiobjective framework capable of solving heavily constrained timetabling problems. In this prototype study, we focus on the two objectives: minimizing timetable length while simultaneously optimizing the spread of examinations for individual students. Candidate solutions are presented to a multiobjective memetic algorithm as orderings of examinations, and a greedy algorithm is used to construct violation free timetables from permutation sequences of exams. The role of the multiobjective algorithm is to iteratively improve a population of orderings, with respect to the given objectives, using various mutation and reordering heuristics.