In New York, university cream broadcast skill in maths (8)
I believe the answer is:
numeracy
'skill in maths' is the definition.
(ability to add up etc)
'in new york university cream broadcast' is the wordplay.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'new york' becomes 'ny'.
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
'broadcast' is an anagram indicator (letters scattered or cast around).
'u'+'cream'='ucream'
'ucream' is an anagram of 'umerac'.
'ny' placed around 'umerac' is 'NUMERACY'.
(Other definitions for numeracy that I've seen before include "Being able to count" , "Skill with mathematics" , "Cure many with basic knowledge and understanding of maths" .)