The budget for the department has increased year on year since 2018, when it spent $1.5 million.
Over the same time period, the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff working in the communications department has risen from 13.3 FTE to 23. 7FTE - the highest among the four universities that provided the Otago Daily Times with figures under the Official Information Act.
Media researcher Dr Gavin Ellis said it was time for the University of Otago to "rethink the size of its communications department".
However, the university defended the department, which was centralised from 2018.
It detailed the benefits of the new model, including having "the largest share of the voice among national media of all universities", and pointed to potential discrepancies behind the figures.
Otago is not alone in increasing communications spending - all four universities have done so.
It spent $2.8 million last year, while the University of Auckland spent $2.1 million, up from $1.7 million in 2018.
Victoria University of Wellington rose from $1.6 million in 2018 to $1.8 million last year, and in the same period the University of Canterbury increased from $1 million to $1.3 million.
Dr Ellis said universities felt they had to sell themselves as the tertiary system pitted them against each other for funding and enrolments by foreign students.
However, this did not explain the University of Otago’s "significantly higher" staffing levels, he said.
In 2022, it had 23.7 FTE communications staff, while the University of Auckland’s department had 16 staff in total.
"Auckland is about twice the size of Otago University yet its communications team is so much smaller," Dr Ellis said.
In January 2022, the University of Otago accepted 103 redundancy applications as part of its voluntary redundancy scheme.
Staff belonging to the Tertiary Education Union went on strike earlier this year for better pay and conditions, before accepting the university offer of a $7250 pay boost over the next two years - described by a union representative as "not a real win".
Dr Ellis said the university faculty and students had great stories to tell, and could do so without an intermediary.
"At a time when university budgets are being squeezed and some academic staff have lost their jobs, the size and budget of its public relations team needs to be revisited."
University of Otago deputy vice-chancellor of external engagement Prof Tony Ballantyne stressed possible variables between universities, such as staff and student numbers and budgets, and the scope of various communications departments.
While acknowledging the tertiary sector to be "a competitive environment", the majority of the work carried out by the department was aimed at current staff and students, he said.
Emergency communication, media training, various newsletters, social media communication, Maori and Pacific Islander focused communications, were among the work carried out by the department.
About 10% of the budget was spent on publication and mailing costs for several publications, which may not come within the scope of other communications departments, he said.
Otago did not contract out media training or communications related to capital projects, whereas other universities might, he said.
"The amount spent on communications is not out of the ordinary given the team is responsible for conveying information about the university to all of our staff and tauira [students] ... on our campuses across the country, to our stakeholders and the public," Prof Ballantyne said.
The university provided a graph that showed it to have the third-lowest university staff numbers in the combined fields of marketing, recruitment and communications relative to income.
Prof Ballantyne dubbed the graph by internet marketing service Tribal a "fair representation of the situation".
The university was unable to provide a graph comparing only communications staff.
Before 2018, internal communications were carried out on a divisional basis by contractors or staff who were not necessarily classed as communications staff, Prof Ballantyne said.
Benefits of centralisation included streamlined internal communications, which had been useful in the pandemic, and allowing the university to have the largest share of the voice among national media of all universities, he said.
University communications spending
Year-by-year figures (communications staff numbers in brackets*)
2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
Otago | $1,577,000 (13.3) | $2,439,000 (17.7) | $2,506,000 (19.3) | $2,667,000 (20.5) | $2,805,000 (23.7) |
Auckland | $1,707,242 (12) | $1,563,108 (13) | $1,533,141 (14) | $1,666,224 (14) | $2,115,103 (16) |
Victoria | $1,631,782 (15.8) | $1,506,956 (14.3) | $1,867,450 (17.5) | $1,824,244 (19.1) | $1,893,677 (15.3) |
Canterbury | $973,412 (7.5) | $877,460 (7) | $976,985 (7) | $1,226,425 (9.1) | $1,348,423 (9.5) |
* Staff numbers indicates full-time equivalent (FTE) staff numbers, except Auckland University which provided an individual headcount, not FTE staff