An Algorithmic Approach in the Development of Student-Project Allocation Software

Abstract

The traditional way of allocating project/seminar to students in the higher institution needs to be reconsidered since project/seminar research writing is a sensitive aspect of student education in the higher institution. At the beginning of graduating session or semester, the students are required to write project/seminar on their field of study as part of requirement to complete the academic studies. Each student is allocated to a supervisor who will supervise the academic project/seminar to enhance correctness and academic acceptability of the project/seminar work. Normally in some institution, the allocation of students to the supervisor is done by the head of academic department/Unit or the project coordinator. This approach is characterized with two or more problems. Biasedness is one in the sense that the department head or the project coordinator may have interest in some students either due to academic performance of such a students or personal reasons and thereby allocate such student to him/herself. The time wastage in the allocations in order to avoid double allocation is another serious problem of the manual system. Hence, this paper presents an algorithmic approach to ameliorate the identified problems in project allocation. Using the algorithm, a system was implemented which allocated students to project supervisor, effortlessly and seamlessly.