The 28-year-old has stacked up 97 premier games and is a highly regarded official in the south.
He refereed in the Heartland competition last season but has pulled out of the national development squad this year so he can go on his OE.
Morrison will leave for the United Kingdom on August 1 but does eventually plan to return to the city when his visa expires.
Otago Rugby Referees Association chairman Jim Thomson said Morrison’s departure will be a big loss.
"He is pretty understated but he is performing exceptionally well at the present stage and we’re gutted that he is heading away overseas," Thomson said.
"He is also one of the leading lights in our association in terms of training and development. He has been using his GoPro to bring local footage to our training meetings. which is far more relevant than looking at Super Rugby stuff."
Morrison, who works part-time in referee education and spends the rest of the week working for Community Care Trust in office support, had a camera clipped to his collar during the First XV match between Otago Boys’ High School and Timaru Boys’ High School at Littlebourne earlier this week.
He got the idea from fellow referee Tumua Ioane and has been using a camera this season to help review his own performance and educate referees.
"It gives us another resource we are able to use," he said.
"There is probably three or four of us now doing it.
"You can’t practise refereeing without being on the field, so anything you can do to practise what you do is going to be good.
"You can see all the angles and work out whether you got that decision right or wrong."
Half the battle for a referee was getting into the right position. And the footage from Morrison’s camera, combined with that shot by the crew from Otago Polytechnic, was an outstanding teaching resource, he said.
Morrison hopes to keep refereeing while overseas and has plans to head to Scotland, where he thinks there will be more opportunities.
"And it is a bit different from the London Kiwi experience," he said.