Lecturers' competences configuration model for the timetabling problem

Abstract

The article presents the problem of academic teachers' competences configuration in the context of the university course timetabling problem (UCTP). Usually when solving UCTP, the set of available academic teachers and the competences they have is defined. The sets of lecture rooms, subjects (courses), student groups, time-slots, etc. are also known. Problems can emerge when it is not possible to find a satisfactory UTCP solution due to the missing sufficient number of specific academic teachers' (lecturers') competences, which is reflected in the possibility to teach specific classes (courses). In order to detect early such a situation and effectively manage the available and required lecturers' competences, a mathematical model of lecturers' competences configuration has been formulated in the form of a MILP (Mixed Integer Linear Programming) problem. Its solution has a direct impact on UTCP. The article also presents the implementation of the model in the LINGO solver environment and computational experiments.