Algorithms for solving hard optimization problems typically have several parameters that
need to be set appropriately such that some aspect of performance is optimized. In this …

We propose a survey of the research contributions on the field of Educational Timetabling
with a specific focus on “standard” formulations and the corresponding benchmark …

Graph colouring is one of those rare examples in the mathematical sciences of a problem
that, while easy to state and visualise, has many aspects that are exceptionally difficult to …

Metaheuristics are a relatively new but already established approach to combinatorial
optimization. A metaheuristic is a generic algorithmic template that can be used for finding …

Hyperheuristics can be defined to be heuristics which choose between heuristics in order to
solve a given optimisation problem. The main motivation behind the development of such …

As well as nearly always belonging to the class of NP-complete problems, university
timetabling problems can be further complicated by the often idiosyncratic requirements …

Computationally challenging problems arise in the context of many applications, and the
ability to solve these as efficiently as possible is of great practical, and often also economic …

Discovering the conditions under which an optimization algorithm or search heuristic will
succeed or fail is critical for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different …

We consider a simplification of a typical university course timetabling problem involving
three types of hard and three types of soft constraints. A MAX-MIN Ant System, which makes …

Course timetabling is an ongoing challenge that universities face all around the world. This
combinatorial optimization task involves allocating a set of events into finite time slots and …