Genetic Algorithms for Efficient Scheduling Systems in Universities

GENETIC ALGORITHMS FOR EFFICIENT SCHEDULING SYSTEMS IN UNIVERSITIES

JOB OBUTU NYABWAYA

A RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE INSTITUTE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OF JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY.

DECEMBER, 2013

DECLARATION

This research Project Report is my original work and has not been submitted in any other university for the award of a degree.

Signature…………………………..……. Date………………………….

JOB O. NYABWAYA

BIT-C006-0017/2011

This Research Project Report has been submitted for examination with my approval as the University Supervisor.

Signed…………………………………………….… Date……………………

MR. FELIX SIGEI

LEECTURER ICSIT

JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT

The study sought to investigate genetic algorithms for efficient scheduling systems in universities. Genetic algorithm (GA) particularly has proved very efficient in handling timetabling and similar problems (Adewumi et al., 2008). The study was guided by the following objectives: to investigate the current processes, requirements, constraints and problems involved in the task of preparing the timetable in Kenyan Universities; to do a comparative study of Genetic Algorithms used in the scheduling problems; to develop a tool that incorporates Genetic Algorithms to solve the Kenyan universities scheduling problems and lastly to evaluate the performance and efficiency of the developed tool. However due to constraints of tie and resources the researcher used students and staff in the Business and Social Sciences department of JKUAT Kisii Campus consisting of 200 students and 30 faculty members. Data was collected using a questionnaire which sought to get students and...