Influence fool around university (5)
I believe the answer is:
clout
'influence' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'fool around university' is the wordplay.
'fool' becomes 'clot' (I've seen this before**).
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'university' becomes 'u'.
'clot' going around 'u' is 'CLOUT'.
(Other definitions for clout that I've seen before include "Box" , "Old-fashioned garment" , "weight" , "Swipe" , "Punch; influence" .)