Excellent? No - sad to leave university (5)
I believe the answer is:
noble
'excellent?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for noble that I've seen before include "aristocrat, maybe" , "Impressive in appearance" , "Person of high rank" , "Having high moral qualities" , "Blue-blooded" .)