Modeling a balanced commute educational timetabling problem in the context of teaching Integer Programming

Abstract

In this work we present modeling and optimally solving a timetabling problem that was given as a compulsory assignment to students attending an Operations Research course. The project aimed at introducing Integer Programming in a problem that used enrollments of the students themselves to individual courses and aimed at minimizing, in a balanced manner, commute time needed for attending lessons. Students were given a problem that was familiar to them and nontrivial to be solved optimally. In the process, modern commercial and open source Integer Programming solvers were used. More importantly, modeling skills were acquired and the benefits of approaching hard problems using solvers employing exact algorithms was demonstrated.