After university paid, inside I felt strangely happy (8)
I believe the answer is:
uplifted
'happy' is the definition.
The answer and definition are different parts of speech. However, past participle verbs and adjectives can sometimes define each other.
'after university paid inside i felt strangely' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'university' could be 'u' (abbreviation for university) and 'u' is located in the answer.
'i' is within the answer.
an anagram of 'felt' is 'lfte' which is within the left over letters.
'paid' could be 'pd' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'pd' is located in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for uplifted that I've seen before include "Raised, in spirit perhaps." , "Exalted" , "Elevated emotionally or morally" , "High" , "Raised or inspired" .)