A clique-based algorithm for constructing feasible timetables

Yongkai Liu, Defu Zhang and Francis Y.L. Chin Department of Computer Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China Department of Computer Science, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Abstract Constructing a feasible solution, where the focus is on “hard” constraints only, is an important part of solving timetabling problems. For the University Course Timetabling Problem (UCTP), we propose a heuristic algorithm to schedule events to timeslots based on cliques, each representing a set of events that could be scheduled in the same timeslot, which the algorithm constructs. Our algorithm has been tested on a set of well-known instances, and the experimental results show that our algorithm compares favorably with other effective algorithms.