At university work facing students ultimately increases (7)
I believe the answer is:
upticks
'increases' is the definition.
(uptick can mean an increase or surge)
'at university work facing students ultimately' is the wordplay.
'at university' becomes 'up' (to 'come up' is to arrive for term, e.g. at Oxford).
'work' becomes 'tick' (tick can mean to work or function).
'facing' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ultimately' indicates one should take the final letters.
The final letter of 'students' is 's'.
'up'+'tick'+'s'='UPTICKS'
(Another definition for upticks that I've seen is " Small increases".)