Muslim in student body turned to the west (5)
I believe the answer is:
sunni
'muslim' is the definition.
(Sunni is an example)
'student body turned to the west' is the wordplay.
'student body' becomes 'NUS' (National Union of Students).
'turned' is a reversal indicator.
'to the west' becomes 'ni' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'nus' in reverse letter order is 'sun'.
'sun'+'ni'='SUNNI'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sunni that I've seen before include "Member of another Muslim sect" , "A main branch of Islam" , "Islamic faction" , "Indian fig tree with aerial roots" , "One branch of Islam" .)