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The Student-Project Allocation Problem as Part of Timetabling in Project-Oriented Schools

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Operations Research Proceedings 2021 (OR 2021)

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Abstract

This paper focusses on the student-project allocation problem (SPA) as part of the timetabling process for project-oriented schools. The goal is to find an optimal allocation of students to project groups in this specific learning environment. A multi-period integer linear programming (ILP) model based on students preferences is formulated. We compare the model with a decomposed formulation and examine the impact on computation time and solution quality. Two different objective functions and five different problem sizes are tested. We show that there is an incentive to use the decomposed version due to the significantly lower computing time especially for large-sized problem instances while maintaining acceptable solution quality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chair of Business Management, esp. Industrial Management, TU Dresden, 01069, Dresden, Germany

    Michael Hölscher

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  1. Michael Hölscher
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Correspondence to Michael Hölscher .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Norbert Trautmann

  2. Department of Business Administration, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Mario Gnägi

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Hölscher, M. (2022). The Student-Project Allocation Problem as Part of Timetabling in Project-Oriented Schools. In: Trautmann, N., Gnägi, M. (eds) Operations Research Proceedings 2021. OR 2021. Lecture Notes in Operations Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08623-6_17

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