Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Mark Scott AO
The Vice-Chancellor leads the University and determines its overall direction, in close consultation with the Chancellor and other Fellows of Senate, senior leaders and the Academic Board.
Professor Mark Scott AO is the University of Sydney's 27th Vice-Chancellor. He commenced his five-year term on 19 July 2021.
“I am committed to driving transformative change that will support students and staff from all backgrounds to excel and realise their potential. I look forward to working closely with them and with industry, community and government to solve the world’s most pressing challenges and secure a prosperous future for the University of Sydney and the tertiary education sector.”
Our 27th Vice-Chancellor
Professor Mark Scott AO
BA DipEd MA Hon DLitt Sydney, MPA Harvard, Hon DBus UNSW, Hon DUniv UTS, FAICD, FRSN
Professor Mark Scott AO is the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Sydney.
Professor Scott is a proud alumnus of the University and holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Diploma of Education, a Master of Arts (Political Science and Government), an Honorary Doctorate (Letters) and a Professor of Practice (Education and Media) from the University of Sydney, as well as a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has also been awarded honorary doctorates from the University of NSW and University of Technology Sydney.
Under his leadership, the University has embarked an ambitious 10-year strategy, with immediate commitments to more than double scholarship support for under-represented domestic students and invest nearly half a billion dollars in a world-leading biomedical precinct.
Professor Scott is a highly respected and successful senior leader of large and complex institutions, across public service, education, and the media. Under his leadership as Secretary of the NSW Department of Education (2016 to 2021) the Department secured a record 10-year funding agreement for public schools, created School Infrastructure NSW to deliver an additional 160,000 classroom places, and established the School Leadership Institute to train and develop aspiring school principals across the state.
His distinguished record of strategic leadership includes a decade as Managing Director of the ABC (2006 to 2016), where he led the organisation’s transformation to be a public broadcaster in the digital era. Over that time, the ABC created new services like iview, News 24, ABC3 and digital radio; and expanded online and mobile services, such as podcasting and ABC News online.
Professor Scott also held a number of senior editorial roles at Fairfax, including Education Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and Editor-in-Chief of metropolitan, regional and community newspapers. His contribution to education reaches back to the start of his career, as a teacher in Sydney. He built on his interest in education with senior policy and leadership positions with two NSW education ministers and in 2011 he was named an Officer of the Order of Australia.
In addition to his role as Vice-Chancellor, Professor Scott is currently the Chair of the Group of Eight universities, Chair of the Conversation Media Group board, and Chair of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government Limited (ANZSOG)’s Academic Board. From 2022 to 2023, he chaired the Australian Government’s Teacher Education Expert Panel, established to improve initial teacher education to ensure graduating teachers are better prepared for the classroom.