Modeling and solving the problem of scheduling university exams in terms of new constraints on the conflicts of professors' exams and the concurrence of exams with common questions

Saeedeh Bazari (), Alireza Pooya (), Omid Soleimani Fard () and Pardis Roozkhosh ()
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Saeedeh Bazari: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
Alireza Pooya: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
Omid Soleimani Fard: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
Pardis Roozkhosh: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

OPSEARCH, 2023, vol. 60, issue 2, No 13, 877-915

Abstract: Abstract The problem of scheduling final exams is a type of educational planning in which the goal is to find a suitable schedule for the exams of an educational institution in a way that makes optimal use of available resources. The purpose of this study is to find and solve a suitable mathematical model for the problem of scheduling final exams. The model presented in this research is integer linear programming with zero variables, which has obtained a justified and satisfactory solution. In addition to observing the educational rules, such as the limited period for holding exams, non-conflicts of each student's exams, optimal use of classroom capacity, etc., this model tries to minimize the penalties due to the proximity of consecutive exams of students. Also, the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad is considered the case study, and the model is tested on its data. Finally, to evaluate the accuracy of the model and the quality of the answers, the results of solving the proposed mathematical model are compared with the university examination schedule, which is prepared manually. Computational results show the superiority of the proposed model in terms of using an optimal number of available classes, non-interfere of exams that have common students, reducing the number of students who take several exams in one day, and minimizing the number of students whose exams are smaller than one day.

Keywords: Educational scheduling; Linear integer scheduling; Optimization; Soft constraints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s12597-023-00638-z

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