Arabian film star engages university in dispute (8)
I believe the answer is:
arguable
'in dispute' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'arabian film star engages university' is the wordplay.
'arabian' becomes 'Ar.' (abbreviation in Chambers).
'film star' becomes 'gable' (I've seen this before).
'engages' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'university' becomes 'U' (abbreviation for university).
'gable' going around 'u' is 'guable'.
'ar'+'guable'='ARGUABLE'
(Other definitions for arguable that I've seen before include "Doubtful - plausible" , "Open to disagreement" , "Tenable (theory); dubious" , "Moot" , "Debatable" .)