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Daily course pattern formulation and valid inequalities for the curriculum-based course timetabling problem

Author

Listed:
  • Niels-Christian Fink Bagger

    (Technical University of Denmark
    MaCom A/S)

  • Guy Desaulniers

    (GERAD – HEC Montréal 3000
    Polytechnique Montréal)

  • Jacques Desrosiers

    (GERAD – HEC Montréal 3000
    HEC Montréal)

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an integer-programming relaxation for obtaining lower bounds for the curriculum-based course timetabling problem in which weekly assignments for courses to rooms and periods are considered. The model is a pattern formulation where a pattern is an assignment of a course into a set of periods on one day. Different preprocessing techniques are implemented to reduce the number of variables, and valid inequalities are derived and added to the model. The proposed model is tested on 21 real-world data instances. On 17 of these instances, the best known solutions have been proven optimal, and out of the remaining four, our model improves the lower bounds for three of them.

Suggested Citation

  • Niels-Christian Fink Bagger & Guy Desaulniers & Jacques Desrosiers, 2019. "Daily course pattern formulation and valid inequalities for the curriculum-based course timetabling problem," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 155-172, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jsched:v:22:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10951-018-0582-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10951-018-0582-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hao, Jin-Kao & Benlic, Una, 2011. "Lower bounds for the ITC-2007 curriculum-based course timetabling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 212(3), pages 464-472, August.
    2. Barry McCollum & Andrea Schaerf & Ben Paechter & Paul McMullan & Rhyd Lewis & Andrew J. Parkes & Luca Di Gaspero & Rong Qu & Edmund K. Burke, 2010. "Setting the Research Agenda in Automated Timetabling: The Second International Timetabling Competition," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 120-130, February.
    3. Andrea Bettinelli & Valentina Cacchiani & Roberto Roberti & Paolo Toth, 2015. "An overview of curriculum-based course timetabling," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 23(2), pages 313-349, July.
    4. VAN ROY, Tony J. & WOLSEY, Laurence A., 1987. "Solving mixed integer programming problems using automatic reformulation," LIDAM Reprints CORE 782, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    5. Gerald Lach & Marco Lübbecke, 2012. "Curriculum based course timetabling: new solutions to Udine benchmark instances," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 255-272, April.
    6. Andrea Bettinelli & Valentina Cacchiani & Roberto Roberti & Paolo Toth, 2015. "Rejoinder on: an overview of curriculum-based course timetabling," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 23(2), pages 366-368, July.
    7. Tony J. Van Roy & Laurence A. Wolsey, 1987. "Solving Mixed Integer Programming Problems Using Automatic Reformulation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 45-57, February.
    8. Edmund Burke & Jakub Mareček & Andrew Parkes & Hana Rudová, 2010. "A supernodal formulation of vertex colouring with applications in course timetabling," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 105-130, September.
    9. Alex Bonutti & Fabio Cesco & Luca Gaspero & Andrea Schaerf, 2012. "Benchmarking curriculum-based course timetabling: formulations, data formats, instances, validation, visualization, and results," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 59-70, April.
    10. Edmund Burke & Jakub Mareček & Andrew Parkes & Hana Rudová, 2012. "A branch-and-cut procedure for the Udine Course Timetabling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 71-87, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ceschia, Sara & Di Gaspero, Luca & Schaerf, Andrea, 2023. "Educational timetabling: Problems, benchmarks, and state-of-the-art results," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(1), pages 1-18.
    2. Esmaeilbeigi, Rasul & Mak-Hau, Vicky & Yearwood, John & Nguyen, Vivian, 2022. "The multiphase course timetabling problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 300(3), pages 1098-1119.
    3. Dennis S. Holm & Rasmus Ø. Mikkelsen & Matias Sørensen & Thomas J. R. Stidsen, 2022. "A graph-based MIP formulation of the International Timetabling Competition 2019," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 405-428, August.

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