Condition protecting university sculpture (6)
I believe the answer is:
statue
'sculpture' is the definition.
(I know that statue is a type of sculpture)
'condition protecting university' is the wordplay.
'condition' becomes 'state' (the state something is in).
'protecting' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are held or protected).
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
'state' enclosing 'u' is 'STATUE'.
(Other definitions for statue that I've seen before include "artwork" , "Large figure" , "Piece of sculpture" , "Solid representation of the human form" , "Sculpture representing a human or animal" .)