An Assignment Problem and Its Application in Education Domain: A Review and Potential Path

Table 1

The hard and soft constraints within the ETP adopted from Qu et al. [18].

Constraint type	Descriptions
Hard constraints	(i) Student should not sit two examinations at one time.
	(ii) The total number of students in the examination room should not exceed the room capacity.
Soft constraints	(i) Examinations that are in conflict should be distributed within the timetable as evenly as possible.
	(ii) Some examinations are required to be scheduled at a particular location or on the same day.
	(iii) Examinations should be scheduled consecutively.
	(iv) Examinations with large enrolment size should be scheduled as early as possible.
	(v) Examinations with limited enrolment should be scheduled into a particular timeslot.
	(vi) Some examinations are required to be scheduled within a particular timeslot.
	(vii) Examinations in conflict on the same day should be located nearby.
	(viii) Examinations should be split over similar locations.
	(ix) Examinations with the same duration should be allocated the same room.
	(x) Resource requirements for certain examinations should be met.