The review of Client Services — where 380 full-time equivalent staff are employed — is being carried out with help from external consultants.
Chief operating officer Stephen Willis said staff cuts were not the purpose of the review, although it was unknown what changes, if any, would result.
Any review created uncertainty, and he asked the university community to understand and support the Client Services team as the review progressed.
The review aimed to ensure the service was "efficient, effective and fit for purpose", as the university began to implement its new strategy, Vision 2040.
"The review will consider the need for the university to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to take account of the Māori Strategic Framework and other university strategic frameworks."
It was a positive investment in the future of what was a critical service.
All university staff would have the opportunity to provide input into the review, the initial stage of which would take about three months.
Client Services was established in 2018, so a review was now timely.
It was established in the wake of a two-and-a-half-year review of support services at the university which resulted in administration becoming more centralised, along with other areas such as IT, finance, marketing and human resources.
It also brought a wave of redundancies — between 2015 and 2018, 166 people took voluntary redundancy, and another 13 were made redundant.
Under the revised system, staff providing support to academics are embedded in departments, but managed by a shared services division.
Tertiary Education Union branch president Craig Marshall said the union was interested in the review and its outcome.
Given how controversial the last review had been, it made sense to see how the changes had worked out. However, it was too early to say how members felt about the review.
He believed many people would be interested in contributing, and the union would co-ordinate a response once they had discussed the matter.
