Practices in Timetabling in Higher Education Institutions

The study of differences between timetabling research presented in conferences like PATAT, and the timetabling software used in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is essential for the discussion about innovation in HEIs. In the field of planning and scheduling, a lot of developments are made and it is important to recognise that these developments are of some influence on HEIs. A main objective of the work presented here is to provide up-todate information about timetabling in higher education institutions and see to what extent they adopt and implement timetabling developments. This seems crucial because of budgets of institutions being cut and remaining resources like rooms having to be shared more and more. This has caused planning processes in higher education to deal with more limitations than ever, while at the same time the demand towards flexibility and availability is increasing. This paper gives the results of a systematic literature review in which differences and similarities in theory and practice of timetabling in higher education are described and discussed.We looked at state-of-the-art timetabling in HEIs and its innovation in the field of timetabling and the use of space. The aim of this paper is to motivate the discussion about both the di↵erences and similarities and bring timetabling research closer to educational requirements.