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A branch-and-cut procedure for the Udine Course Timetabling problem

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  • Edmund Burke
  • Jakub Mareček
  • Andrew Parkes
  • Hana Rudová

Abstract

A branch-and-cut procedure for the Udine Course Timetabling problem is described. Simple compact integer linear programming formulations of the problem employ only binary variables. In contrast, we give a formulation with fewer variables by using a mix of binary and general integer variables. This formulation has an exponential number of constraints, which are added only upon violation. The number of constraints is exponential. However, this is only with respect to the upper bound on the general integer variables, which is the number of periods per day in the Udine Course Timetabling problem. A number of further classes of cuts are also introduced, arising from: enumeration of event/free-period patterns; bounds on the numbers of days of instruction; the desire to exploit integrality of the objective function value; the graph colouring component; and also from various implied bounds. An implementation of the corresponding branch-and-cut procedure is evaluated on the instances from Track 3 of the International Timetabling Competition 2007. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:194:y:2012:i:1:p:71-87:10.1007/s10479-010-0828-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-010-0828-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. 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.
    8. Al-Yakoob, Salem M. & Sherali, Hanif D., 2007. "A mixed-integer programming approach to a class timetabling problem: A case study with gender policies and traffic considerations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 180(3), pages 1028-1044, August.
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    10. Daskalaki, S. & Birbas, T., 2005. "Efficient solutions for a university timetabling problem through integer programming," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(1), pages 106-120, January.
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    2. 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.
    3. Bagger, Niels-Christian F. & Sørensen, Matias & Stidsen, Thomas R., 2019. "Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition of the daily course pattern formulation for curriculum-based course timetabling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(2), pages 430-446.
    4. Fabrizio Borghini & Isabel Méndez-Díaz & Paula Zabala, 2020. "An exact algorithm for the edge coloring by total labeling problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 286(1), pages 11-31, March.
    5. Johnes, Jill, 2015. "Operational Research in education," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 243(3), pages 683-696.
    6. Taha Arbaoui & Jean-Paul Boufflet & Aziz Moukrim, 2015. "Preprocessing and an improved MIP model for examination timetabling," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 229(1), pages 19-40, June.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Thepphakorn, Thatchai & Pongcharoen, Pupong & Hicks, Chris, 2014. "An ant colony based timetabling tool," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 131-144.
    10. Sara Ceschia & Luca Di Gaspero & Andrea Schaerf, 2014. "The generalized balanced academic curriculum problem with heterogeneous classes," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 218(1), pages 147-163, July.
    11. Mutsunori Banbara & Katsumi Inoue & Benjamin Kaufmann & Tenda Okimoto & Torsten Schaub & Takehide Soh & Naoyuki Tamura & Philipp Wanko, 2019. "$${\varvec{teaspoon}}$$ teaspoon : solving the curriculum-based course timetabling problems with answer set programming," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 275(1), pages 3-37, April.
    12. Niels-Christian F. Bagger & Simon Kristiansen & Matias Sørensen & Thomas R. Stidsen, 2019. "Flow formulations for curriculum-based course timetabling," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 280(1), pages 121-150, September.
    13. Rasmus Ø. Mikkelsen & Dennis S. Holm, 2022. "A parallelized matheuristic for the International Timetabling Competition 2019," Journal of Scheduling, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 429-452, August.

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