Using information on unconstrained student demand to improve university course schedules
研究了如何利用学生对课程的无约束需求信息来改进大学课程安排，基于三个学期的实际数据，发现考虑学生偏好的方法可将课程安排质量提升4%以上，惠及超过20%的学生。
Abstract We examine how using information on unconstrained demand can improve operational decisions. Specifically, we examine the widespread problem of developing course schedules in not‐for‐profit university settings. We investigate the potential benefit of incorporating, into the scheduling process, information on the unconstrained demand of students for courses. Prior to this study, the status quo in our college, like that in a large proportion of university settings, was building the course schedule to avoid time conflicts between required courses and to minimize time conflicts between designated groups of courses, such as electives in a particular area. Compared to the status quo approach, we find that, based on three semester's worth of actual data, an approach that explicitly considers students’ course preferences improves a student‐based metric of schedule quality on the order of over 4% (which is the equivalent, in our setting, of improving service for over 20% of students).