Coot's positive universities can provide stimulation (7)
I believe the answer is:
impulse
'stimulation' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'coot's positive universities can' is the wordplay.
'coot's' becomes 'I'm' (I am - where the crossword setter is 'Coot').
'positive universities can' becomes 'pulse' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'im'+'pulse'='IMPULSE'
'provide' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for impulse that I've seen before include "Sudden urge to do something" , "Maybe unthinking urge" , "Catalyst" , "Impetus - whim" , "Sudden or instinctive desire" .)