Highland service provided carnet for exchange student (6,7)
I believe the answer is:
massif central
'highland' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'service provided carnet for exchange student' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'service' could be 'mass' (religious service) and 'mass' is found within the answer.
'provided' could be 'if' (eg 'provided it's sunny' means 'if it's sunny') and 'if' is found in the answer.
an anagram of 'carnet' is 'centra' which is within the answer.
'student' could be 'l' (as in L-plates for learner drivers) and 'l' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for massif central that I've seen before include "Mountainous plateau of S. central France" , "Mountainous plateau covering a sixth of France" , "Mountainous plateau of southern France" , "Upland area in southern France" .)