Simulation-optimization model to determine the installed capacity of an educational services system

Abstract

Introduction. The problem of determining the capacity in service companies is the lack of clear methodologies. As for academic institutions, the research advances on the subject are even more reduced. The literature available has widely covered other problems affecting capacity, and also the programming and the planning of staff, facilities and schedules without directly measuring capacity. Objective. To create a generic methodology to determine the capacity of an educative services system (schools, universities, etc) in terms of the quantity of students to serve with the institution´s infrastructure. Materials and methods. Firstly, a methodology to simulate the capacity used by the students throughout time is created. Then, with this information, an optimization model to calculate the maximum number of students that can be admitted is executed. Results. The model developed is applied in the Engineering School of Universidad del Valle, Colombia, where it was found that 25% more of students could have been admitted, using about 20 % of the capacity that can be potentially used. Conclusion. This methodological model is useful to know the capacity in terms of the number of students an institution can receive. It also facilitates midterm decisions, especially the measurement of the impact of the policies that can be formulated to favor the maximization of the service standards of the institution, and also, for instance, the impact of building new infrastructures.