An hybrid algorithm of Harmony Search and Bees Algorithm for a University Course Timetabling Problem

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the development of a new hybrid metaheuristic approach for solving a practical university course timetabling problem in Vietnam. Our hybrid method is a combination of Harmony Search (HS) algorithm and the Bees algorithm. The proposed method has been tested on 14 real-world data instances and compared with some other metaheurisitic approaches, which are Variable Neighborhood Search, Tabu Search and Bee Algorithms. Numerical results indicate the effectiveness of the hybrid HS – Bees algorithm over the others for the specific problem.