In conversation with Mark Scott

Fabian Robertson interviews the Vice Chancellor.

Mark Scott was appointed VC for a five-year term on the 27th of July 2021. Scott has worked as Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, Managing Director of the ABC, in Senior Editorial roles at Fairfax and for the New South Wales Greiner Liberal government as Chief of Staff and Senior Adviser to the Education Minister. He attained an Arts Degree, a Diploma of Education and a Master’s in Political Science and Government from the University of Sydney, as well as a Master’s from Harvard University in Public Administration.

Notably, Scott is the first VC in USyd’s history without a background in Higher Education, having not attained a doctorate or been employed by a university.

I spoke to Scott for 20 minutes with his Senior PR adviser on the line. As one might expect from an individual who has devoted his career to leading public-facing institutions, Scott spent much of the interview vocalising familiar platitudes in lieu of saying much of substance.

What does a VC do?

According to Scott, a VC is “basically responsible for the management and the operations of the university on a daily basis.

“I report to the Senate and the Senate is the governing board that oversees the operations of the university,” he says.

A Liberal?

When questioned about his past work for the Liberal party, Scott said that to view him as closely aligned to the party “would be a misreading” of his professional career.

“I was a staffer for the Greiner state government, more than 30 years ago now. I’ve been a senior independent public servant; I’ve worked closely with both sides of government in Canberra. I have worked with both sides of government and I have been criticised by both sides of government. I am not a member of a political party; I am not a partisan player at all.”

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The university crisis

Border restrictions necessitated by the global pandemic will decrease future revenue from international students, creating a climate of unprecedented financial precarity for Australian universities.

Scott, however, is “not using the word ‘crisis’. 

“We’ve been through 2 world wars, the great depression - this isn’t even our first pandemic.

“But it is challenging; very tough decisions had to be made last year and if we hadn’t made those budgetary cuts we would’ve had very significant loss last year,” he says.

Scott is, in part, referring to USyd’s redundancy program, which gives severance packages to employees who voluntarily resign or are made redundant in order to save the cost of employing them in the long run. A NSW Auditor-General’s Report revealed USyd made 131 staff redundant in 2020, with 22 of those let go involuntarily. According to Honi Soit, a further 166 staff are departing this year under the voluntary redundancy program.

Yet USyd’s financial statements indicated an underlying deficit of only $2.2 million in 2020 and an increase in student revenue. 

National Tertiary Education Union branch president, Kurt Iveson, told The Age “the pandemic is absolutely being used as cover to try to get rid of staff and restructure the workforce to further reduce the amount of secure, permanent jobs.”

Redundancy programs have also faced criticism for increasing workloads for remaining staff.

The NTEU’s USyd branch voted unanimously in favour of a motion to oppose the redundancy in program in September 2020.

Scott signalled that budget cuts would very much be a part of USyd’s “uncertain future”.

“We will keep doing what we’ve been doing, be agile, and respond to the challenges,” he says.

Casualisation

Scott declined to comment on the increasing casualisation and underpayment of staff at USyd amidst ongoing enterprise bargaining.

“I’m not going to get in any detail of the industrial negotiations now. I understand and appreciate people’s desire for permanent jobs.”

Future restructuring

On potential restructuring, Scott says “You can’t lead an organisation as if the world is the way you want it to be, you have to lead the way the world is… Leaders have to find reality.”

Scott also empathised with the previous VC, Michael Spence, who received widespread criticism for restructuring.

“Some of Michael’s decisions that will have upset people, like bringing 16 faculties into 5, I can understand why he did that.

“I will have to make tough decisions, unpopular decisions.

“I brought about a lot of change at the ABC, but the organisation was stronger for the changes.

“It would be dangerous for the university not to acknowledge that it will face change.”

Confidential donors

On the potential threat of confidential donors, Scott says “the senate takes integrity and the independence of the university with the utmost seriousness and focus.”

He did, however, acknowledge that external influence was “possible”.

“I used to work as a newspaper editor and money would come in from advertisers. But the editorial independence was primary because of the integrity of those Fairfax newspapers as I was working there. That is a similar value set that I have seen at the university. The reputation and independence of the university is paramount and overwhelms any other interest,” Scott says.

Fossil fuel investments

Scott seemed unaware of the millions in USyd’s investment portfolio linked to fossil fuels.

“I understand the view that the university should be showing leadership in ethical investment and that many will have views on precisely what that means.

“It’s not an issue that I have studied and focused on at this point - I’m only 2 weeks in, but I’ll take on notice your observations and I’m sure they’re matters we’ll be able to discuss in the future.”

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It should be obvious to most that Scott was hired to lead USyd through unprecedented change, as he did at the ABC. Unfortunately, this change will likely be accompanied by sweeping austerity measures to maximise profitability and cost-efficiency as means of coping in a post-pandemic economy.

Throughout our interview, Scott emphasised his commitment to enhancing the student experience. One can only hope that Scott, an alumnus whose daughters attended USyd, genuinely cares enough about students to follow through.