For me or not for me? - that is the question : a study of mature students' decision making and higher education

The views expressed in this report are the authors ' and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education an

MetroNG: Computer-Aided Scheduling and Collision Detection

In this paper, we propose a formal model of the objects involved in a class of scheduling problems, namely in the classroom scheduling in universities which allow a certain degree of liberty in their curricula. Using the formal model, we present efficient algorithms for the detection of collisions of the involved objects and for the inference of a tree-like navigational structure in an interactive scheduling software allowing a selection of the most descriptive view of the scheduling objects. These algorithms were used in a real-world application called MetroNG; a visual interactive tool that is based on more than 10 years of experience we have in the field. It is currently used by the largest universities and colleges in the Czech Republic. The efficiency and usability of MetroNG suggests that our approach may be applied in many areas where multi-dimensionally structured data are presented in an interactive application

Practices in timetabling in higher education institutions:A systematic review

The study of differences between timetabling research presented in conferences like PATAT or published in Annals of OR and commercial timetabling software used in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is essential for the discussion about innovation in both higher education and in commerce. In the field of planning and scheduling, a lot of developments are made and it is important to recognise that these developments are of influence on HEIs through their use of timetabling software. A main objective of the work presented here is to provide up-to-date information about timetabling in HEIs and see to what extent they adopt and implement timetabling developments. This is crucial because of budgets of institutions being strictly limited and remaining resources like rooms having to be shared more and more. Developments in HEIs have caused planning processes in higher education to deal with more limitations than ever, while at the same time the demand towards flexibility and availability is increasing. This paper gives the results of a systematic literature review in which differences and similarities in theory and practice of timetabling in higher education are described and discussed. We looked at state-of-the-art timetabling research for HEIs, at innovations in the field of timetabling and at changing requirements in Higher Education. The aim of this paper is to motivate the discussion about both the differences and similarities and bring timetabling application development closer to educational requirements

Examination timetabling at the University of Cape Town: a tabu search approach to automation

With the rise of schedules and scheduling problems, solutions proposed in literature have expanded yet the disconnect between research and reality remains. The University of Cape Town's (UCT) Examinations Office currently produces their schedules manually with software relegated to error-checking status. While they have requested automation, this study is the first attempt to integrate optimisation techniques into the examination timetabling process. Tabu search and Nelder-Mead methodologies were tested on the UCT November 2014 examination timetabling data with tabu search proving to be more effective, capable of producing feasible solutions from randomised initial solutions. To make this research more accessible, a user-friendly app was developed which showcased the optimisation techniques in a more digestible format. The app includes data cleaning specific to UCT's data management system and was presented to the UCT Examinations Office where they expressed support for further development: in its current form, the app would be used as a secondary tool after an initial solution has been manually obtained