Enhancing university exam timetabling through the use of a BSet model.

Abstract

Forming university exam schedules in Southern Africa has always been difficult. It is a scheduling problem with strict rules (hard constraints) and flexible ones (soft constraints). Students must take a final exam for most courses they are enrolled in each semester, held in a supervised setting. Therefore, finding a suitable time and location for each student is a common challenge. This paper proposes a solution to this scheduling problem based on the behaviour of bees, using a model called BSet, which uses simulated robotic devices to find and schedule courses. The results show that this approach is efficient and effective in creating exam schedules.