Design and statistical analysis of a hybrid local search algorithm for course timetabling

We propose a hybrid local search algorithm for the solution of the Curriculum-Based Course Timetabling Problem and we undertake a systematic statistical study of the relative influence of the relevant features on the performances of the algorithm. In particular, we apply modern statistical techniques for the design and analysis of experiments, such as nearly orthogonal space-filling Latin hypercubes and response surface methods. As a result of this analysis, our technique, properly tuned, compares favorably with the best known ones for this problem.