Note position on university scene (6)
I believe the answer is:
milieu
'scene' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'note position on university' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'mi' (as in do-re-mi).
'position' becomes 'lie' (lie can mean to place or position).
'on' means one lot of letters go next to another (in a down clue, letters appear on others).
'university' becomes 'U' (abbreviation for university).
'mi'+'lie'+'u'='MILIEU'
(Other definitions for milieu that I've seen before include "(Social) setting" , "Environment - setting" , "Social environment or set of surroundings" , "'Surroundings, setting (6)'" , "Surroundings - location" .)