Enhancing Genetic Algorithms with Graph Neural Networks: A Timetabling Case Study

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Cornei, Laura-Maria, Breabăn, Mihaela-Elena
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Cornei, Laura-Maria
Breabăn, Mihaela-Elena
author_facet Cornei, Laura-Maria
Breabăn, Mihaela-Elena
contents This paper investigates the impact of hybridizing a multi-modal Genetic Algorithm with a Graph Neural Network for timetabling optimization. The Graph Neural Network is designed to encapsulate general domain knowledge to improve schedule quality, while the Genetic Algorithm explores different regions of the search space and integrates the deep learning model as an enhancement operator to guide the solution search towards optimality. Initially, both components of the hybrid technique were designed, developed, and optimized independently to solve the tackled task. Multiple experiments were conducted on Staff Rostering, a well-known timetabling problem, to compare the proposed hybridization with the standalone optimized versions of the Genetic Algorithm and Graph Neural Network. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybridization brings statistically significant improvements in both the time efficiency and solution quality metrics, compared to the standalone methods. To the best of our knowledge, this work proposes the first hybridization of a Genetic Algorithm with a Graph Neural Network for solving timetabling problems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_08619
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Enhancing Genetic Algorithms with Graph Neural Networks: A Timetabling Case Study
Cornei, Laura-Maria
Breabăn, Mihaela-Elena
Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
This paper investigates the impact of hybridizing a multi-modal Genetic Algorithm with a Graph Neural Network for timetabling optimization. The Graph Neural Network is designed to encapsulate general domain knowledge to improve schedule quality, while the Genetic Algorithm explores different regions of the search space and integrates the deep learning model as an enhancement operator to guide the solution search towards optimality. Initially, both components of the hybrid technique were designed, developed, and optimized independently to solve the tackled task. Multiple experiments were conducted on Staff Rostering, a well-known timetabling problem, to compare the proposed hybridization with the standalone optimized versions of the Genetic Algorithm and Graph Neural Network. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybridization brings statistically significant improvements in both the time efficiency and solution quality metrics, compared to the standalone methods. To the best of our knowledge, this work proposes the first hybridization of a Genetic Algorithm with a Graph Neural Network for solving timetabling problems.
title Enhancing Genetic Algorithms with Graph Neural Networks: A Timetabling Case Study
topic Neural and Evolutionary Computing
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.08619