A simulated annealing based approach to the high school timetabling problem

Abstract

The High School Timetabling Problem remains subject of many research in Artificial Intelligence and Operational Research fields because of its hardness to solve and practical importance. A solution for this problem basically consists in the schedule of lessons to timeslots and the assignment of resources for these lessons. This work considers the solution of the problem of the ongoing Third International Timetabling Competition (ITC), which includes a diverse set of instances from many educational institutions around the world. We proposed an approach based on Simulated Annealing. One important structural feature of our approach is the use of the KHE engine to generate initial solutions combined with a multi-neighborhood search approach. The achieved results were encouraging: nine out of seventeen feasible solutions were found and five out of twenty one all-time best solutions were improved or matched in the processing limit stipulated in the ITC. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.