Examination Timetabling Track
The Examination timetabling problem has been widely studied and reported on within the academic literature. This track introduces a practical formulation of the problem which, organisers believe, significantly adds to not only current research but provides a firm basis for future efforts in the area. In addition, it is hoped that the interest generated as part of this competition will lead to the development, investigation and application of a host of novel and exciting techniques not previously trialled within this important real world search domain.
The problem model addressed here can be described as post enrollment. That is to say, students enrolled on particular courses which have associated exams are considered to be ‘taking’ those exams. Although other approaches are taken to the problem within institutions, this by far is the most common from a practical perspective as well as being the most widely reported model of the problem.
Recent research has concentrated on a number of benchmark datasets. More information can be found here. This particular track of the competition significantly adds to the research field by the introduction of a more ‘real world ’ model of the problem in terms of data, constraints and evaluation.
All datasets used as part of this competition are taken from Institutions and have been anonomised for the purpose of competition use. 4 early datasets are available now. A further 4 'late' datasets will be released 2 weeks prior to the end of the competition. 4 further 'hidden' datasets will be used for internal testing and ranking purposes in line with the competition rules. At a future time, after the end of the competition, all 12 datasets will be released to the community.
A technical report detailing the content of this track can be downloaded here.
Last Updated: Monday, October 22, 2007 2:52 PM