Analysing The Effects of Classroom Utilisation with A Self-Generating Multimeme Memetic Algorithm for The Exam Timetabling

Abstract

Universities have three main missions which are education, research and community service. The activities related to these missions gain vitality through the elements of “human” and “space.” The Human element consisting of academic staff and administrative staff working in universities represents the university's human capital. The buildings titled as faculty, vocational school, hospital, laboratory, research center on the other hand, constitute the elements of space. These spaces, housing the activities of academic and administrative staff, also represent the physical capital of universities. Universities not only need to be continue their education processes successfully, but they should also be manage to the use of resources in the most effective way. The classroom is the center of the school activities. Classroom management is very different from planning and evaluating other space needs. Without an effective classroom management, the heavy investment in the school system could produce loss rather than gain. It relates to the effective classroom planning, management techniques and classroom utilisation in determining accurately how many students the facilities will adequately support. Classroom capacity utilization is an economics concept which refers to the extent to which a higher education institutes or a nation actually uses its available classroom capacity. Therefore, the relationship between whether used and how classroom is being used is very important. Classroom utilisation rate is a percentage-based ratio based on an occupancy rate and frequency rate. The frequency rate evaluates how many times that classroom is used compared to its availability, and the occupancy rate evaluates how many users can actually use the space at one time the classroom is compared to its actual capacity. The main purpose of this study is to analysis the classroom utilisation effects on exam timetabling problem with a self-generating memetic algorithm. The results from the analysis show that classroom utilisation rates for exam timetabling problem should be addressed fully by top management. This study also offers that in order to improve the classroom utilisation rate, higher education institutes should think about the occupancy rate as it is the determining agent affecting the utilisation rate.

Keywords

• classroom management
• examination timetabling
• memetic algorithm

References

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