
High school timetables are quite different from university timetables. Nelishia Pillay published a comprehensive survey paper of these algorithms in 2014, including a table of methods for solving the school timetabling problem. In 1976, for example, Gunther Schmidt and Thomas Ströhlein formalized the STP with an iterative algorithm using logical matrices and hypergraphs.

Since the 1970s, researchers have developed computerized solutions to manage the complex constraints involved in building school timetables. At large universities, there are additional constraints that must be considered, such as taking into account the time students need to walk from one end of the campus to the other. scheduling only one lab-based course in any timeslot). Course X must be scheduled before Course Y), and resource constraints (e.g.

These variations include event constraints (e.g. involve additional constraints that must be satisfied, further increasing the complexity of the STP (school timetable problem). Hoshino and Fabris describe other conditions of real-life timetabling problems, that each teacher has a set of unavailable teaching timeslots.no classroom can be used by two courses simultaneously.a teacher cannot teach two courses in the same time slot.When timetables are constructed by hand, the process is often 10% mathematics and 90% politics, leading to errors, inefficiencies, and resentment among teachers and students." įor the simplest school timetable, such as an elementary school, these conditions must be satisfied: Hoshino and Fabris wrote, "As many school administrators know, creating a timetable is incredibly difficult, requiring the careful balance of numerous requirements (hard constraints) and preferences (soft constraints). Prior to the introduction of operations research and management science methodologies, school timetables had to be generated by hand. The purposes of the school timetable are to inform teachers when and where they teach each course, and to enable students to enroll in a subset of courses without schedule conflicts.

Since the 1970s, researchers in operations research and management science have developed computerized solutions for the school timetable problem (STP).ĭescription and purpose of a school timetable Ī school timetable consists of a list of the complete set of offered courses, as well as the time and place of each course offered. Other factors include the class subjects and the type of classrooms available (for example, science laboratories). Table for coordinating educational schedules at an institution Empty timetable sheet showing time slot allocations.Ī school timetable is a calendar that coordinates students and teachers within the classrooms and time periods of the school day.
