An investigation into "administrative bloat" has found New Zealand universities employ more non-academic staff than their international peers.
The University of Otago has pushed back against the new report from the pro-free-market public-policy think tank New Zealand Initiative.
However, the report, Blessing or Bloat?, says non-academics form the majority of staff at New Zealand universities, and have for at least a decade.
And there has been a shift towards "managerialism" at the institutes of learning.
The report, authored by Victoria University classics senior lecturer Dr James Kierstead and NZ Initiative senior research fellow Dr Michael Johnston said its aim was to spark a discussion about the staffing regimen of universities.
"There are 40% to 50% more non-academics than academics at New Zealand universities, depending on whether we include research-only staff," the report said.
The report recommends the Ministry of Education monitor the number of non-academics employed at New Zealand universities to ensure that numbers do not grow out of proportion to academics and students, while universities should publish in their annual reports figures for the total number of administrative roles held by career academics as well as of non-academic employees.
"Our universities have changed,
A majority of total staff are now non-academic staff, and over the past couple decades non-academic staffing has become increasingly managerial."
The report said reliable data was crucial in tracking trends of this sort and in informing public debates about administrators at universities.
"The debate about non-academics in the US, UK, Canada and Australia regularly draws on high-quality data in a way that has been less common in New Zealand," it said.
It also raised questions about whether New Zealand universities needed to address "administrative bloat".
In response, University of Otago human resources director Kevin Seales said operating a university depended on not just providing excellence in teaching and learning, but also pastoral care and operational services, such as IT support, library, health and recreational services.
"Both must be priorities."
He said the university also owned and operated the majority of its residential colleges which was not the case in all New Zealand or international universities.
