A university spokeswoman said staff had been advised Prof Murdoch had "recovered well from an illness" and he was hoping to be back in his role "as soon as possible".
Staff declined to say what his illness was, for privacy reasons.
Early last month, the university had to rearrange its immediate priorities when the vice-chancellor had to take sick leave.
Deputy academic vice-chancellor Prof Helen Nicholson stepped into the breach and has been running the university in his absence.
Dunedin-born Prof Murdoch was named vice-chancellor in early 2021 and took up the role in early 2022.
Prior to that, he was the dean and head of the university’s Christchurch campus, chairman of the committee that selected Covid-19 vaccines for New Zealand, and he helped steer New Zealand’s response to the global pandemic.
He is expected to return to the vice-chancellor’s role amid a financial crisis. With a $60 million shortfall in its budget, the university is investigating a range of ways to save money, including asset sales, reduced course offerings and potentially several hundred job losses.
A round of voluntary redundancies opened this week and compulsory redundancies are expected to follow.
