Constructing high school timetables by computer

Timetabling is a regularly occurring problem in virtually every high school, college and university. The basic challenge is to produce a timetable for a term or year so as to avoid any class or teacher being double booked while meeting all the necessary curriculum requirements and at the same time satisfying as many as possible of a range of additional institutional requirements. An automatic computerised timetabling system with reasonable flexibility has been developed to suit the needs of high schools following a totally prescribed curriculum. The system provides a choice of feasible schedules and solutions in which the timetabled subjects are well spread and satisfy the particular needs of the individual school. Collaboration with a number of high schools in Leicestershire has enabled a system to be developed which is capable of creating acceptable timetables for these schools.