This proposal tries to address a new approach in university timetabling problem by
considering time structure in the daily basis, which called ‘period based’. This new
formulation would enable examinations or courses be scheduled in any period of the
day. In other application area, this approach has been proved to create a greater
number of time slots, which could enlarge the search space and it enables to deal
with related soft constraints in the day structure. Furthermore, this approach
allows flexibility in the timetable construction and it can cut down an unproductive
time. A basic review of ‘period based’ formulation and some of proposed methods
will be given followed by some preliminary thoughts on how to address the problem.
