Exalting university with acclaim (9)

'acclaim' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'exalting university' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'university' could be 'u' (abbreviation for university) and 'u' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'praising' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'with' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?