Academic, brought up to university by the French, observes small swelling (6)
I believe the answer is:
nodule
'small swelling' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'academic brought up to university by the french' is the wordplay.
'academic' becomes 'don' (type of academic - especially at Oxbridge).
'brought up' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up).
'to university' becomes 'U' (abbreviation for university).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'don' written backwards gives 'nod'.
'nod'+'u'+'le'='NODULE'
'observes' is the link.
This may not be correct. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nodule that I've seen before include "Small protuberance" , "Small wartlike lump" , "Little round lump" , "Small lump or swelling" , "Small round lump" .)