Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for Solving Educational Timetabling Problems

This paper presents an artificial bee colony algorithm (ABC) for Education Timetabling Problem (ETP). It is aimed at developing a good-quality solution for the problem. The initial population of solutions was generated using Saturation Degree (SD) and Backtracking Algorithm (BA) to ensure the feasibility of the solutions. At the improvement stage in the solution method, ABC uses neighbourhood structures iteratively within the employed and onlooker bee operators, in order to rigorously navigate the UTP search space. The technique was evaluated using curriculum-based course timetabling (CB-CTT) and Uncapacitated Examination Timetabling Problem (UETP) problem instances. The experimental results on UETP showed that the technique is comparable with other state-of-the-art techniques and provides encouraging results on CB-CTT.