Evolutionary time scheduling

Genetic algorithms are generally used to solve NP-complete problems, which include scheduling problem in academic institutions. Scheduling consists of assigning offered courses to available time periods so that the students´ satisfaction factor is maximised while preserving the unbreakable academic rules such as two distinct courses cannot be scheduled during the same period of time because the same lecturer ministers the corresponding courses. In this paper, we present an application of genetic algorithms to a generic scheduling problem. The necessary algorithmic solution is described together with some empirical observations about the performance of the scheduler implementation.