Metaheuristic approach proposal for the solution of the bi-objective course scheduling problem

Timetabling problems are among the commonly encountered problems in real life, from education institutions to airline companies. It is generally difficult to obtain optimal solutions to timetabling problems that vary in terms of structures of constraints and objective functions, and these problems belong to the NP-hard category, which means that they cannot be solved in polynomial time in real life. In this study, a bi-objective mathematical model is proposed for a course scheduling problem at Kutahya Dumlupinar University, Department of Industrial Engineering. The first objective function aims to maximize the sum of the preferences of instructors determined using the Analytic Hierarchy Process method, and the second objective function is to minimize the cases of course overlap for students. Conic scalarization method is used to combine the objective functions. Due to NP-hard nature of the problem, the Tabu Search Algorithm as a metaheuristic approach is used to solve it. Using the obtained data and by considering the proposed bi-objective mathematical model, the Tabu Search Algorithm is designed for the problem and dealt with in the Excel Visual Basic program. The experimental results are evaluated through Analysis of Variance using Minitab Program. Based on the comaprison of the results, satisfactory solutions are obtained. (c) 2023 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.