Course scheduling optimization using genetic algorithm and tabu search

Abstract

Scheduling courses in higher education often face problems, such as the clashes of teachers' schedules, rooms, and students' schedules. This study proposes course scheduling optimization using genetic algorithms and taboo search. The genetic algorithm produces the best generation of chromosomes composed of lecturer, day, and hour genes. The Tabu search method is used for the lecture rooms division. Scheduling is carried out for the Informatics faculty with four study programs, 65 lecturers, 93 courses, 265 lecturer assignments, and 65 classes. The process of generating 265 schedules took 561 seconds without any scheduling clashes. The genetic algorithms and taboo searches can process quite many course schedules faster than the manual method.