University Dissertation Project.

Contains a Client, server and database that all work together in order to assign students the correct supervisor using a stable matching algorithm.

Functionality:

• Server
• Client
• Database
• Stable matching algorithm
• RFC like Networking Communication
• User based interfaces

1      Introduction

1.1      Project Rationale

Currently for a student to find the correct supervisor for their independent studies project they must first come up with a proposed topic and then try and find the correct supervisor.

This is done through either asking other supervisors who they think would be best suited for their project, or by just asking a supervisor if they would be interested in their proposal and hoping that it works out well.

This is not the most elegant of solutions and can often leave a student in a situation where they do not know who to talk to about their proposal, or potentially have their proposal turned down due to not speaking with the correct supervisor.

Over the years, technology has made it increasingly easier to automate tasks allowing for faster and more accurate results, and most universities implement some form of user management system for both the staff and students to keep track of the people that attend the University.

With this being the case, it seems only reasonable that we can now utilise these systems to automate the existing slow, and unreliable way that students find supervisors for their proposals, and with this process streamlined and made easier for the student, it gives them the opportunity to spend less time trying to find the correct supervisor, and more time to work on the project.

1.2      Aim and Objectives

1.2.a        Project Aim

The main aim of this project is to try and implement some form of application that will streamline the process of finding a supervisor for a student’s proposal, and then looking at other potential benefits the application may have.

This will give us the ability to see whether or not upgrading the currently implemented system to be automated will end up being more beneficial in the long run, alongside potentially making the whole process easier for both staff members and students.

1.2.b        Project Objectives

To do this we will need to do the following:

• Research into possible systems that may be used to improve the current process.
• Implement an application that tries to automate the assignment of supervisors to students, giving the student the most relevant supervisor.
• Thoroughly test the application to make sure that it works as intended and not only gives us a reliable outcome, but that it also streamlines the process.

This project seems highly feasible due to its nature of taking in data of some kind and automating how that data is processed. The only requirement that we have is the need for some data to work with so that we can process the data and see the outcome.