Binary Integer Programming for University Timetabling (The Case: Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics of Esfahan University)

Course timetabling is an important branch of the general scheduling problem. The course timetabling problem as a step in the course planning process in universities is one of the challenges faced by managers in the field of education. The problem is defined as assigning university courses to specific periods throughout a week for a given semester while satisfying specific constraints. In this study, we present two novel binary integer linear programming models for the university timetabling problem. Using a GAMS IP Solver, several experiments through each model are solved and the results (the number of the decision variables and solution time) are compared and analyzed. The computational comparison indicates that the second model can be used for modeling large-scaled problems and has less computational and size complexity. Therefore, the second model is applied to optimal scheduling the courses planned for the faculty of administrative science and economics (ASE) at Isfahan University for one semester and the results consist of table of courses planned for teachers, students groups, rooms and workdays are presented