Application of Integer Programming in Maximizing the Number of Industrial Engineering Students Allowed to Attend Face-to-Face classes for Blended Learning in Mapúa University during the COVID-19 Pandemic

With the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines, universities are coming up with different ways on how to continue education online for the incoming school year But this only poses a huge challenge, where many students have no access to education resources Mapua University recognized this problem and offered an option to its students to choose whether to have a fully online term or a blend of online and face-to-face classes (blended learning) The study aims to determine the maximum number of IE-EMG students allowed to attend face-to-face classes for the 1st quarter of A Y 2020-2021, where blended learning is opted to be implemented as the learning mode of delivery An integer programming model is designed to help the beneficiaries of this study with assigning courses and class schedules for blended learning to IE students of the IE-EMG department while observing IATF protocols and the university's guidelines An optimal solution was obtained using Excel's solver tool, where Max Z is equal to 135, this suggests that the faculty members should limit the total number of IE-EMG students that will attend face-to-face classes every week to 135 The obtained solution could be used by the faculty members of the department as a guide in arranging the class schedules of the students © 2020 ACM