Old city in Belgium with American university department (6)
I believe the answer is:
bureau
'department' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'old city in belgium with american university' is the wordplay.
'old city' becomes 'ur' (ancient city state).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'belgium' becomes 'be' (I've seen this in other clues).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'american university' becomes 'au' (this could be a standard abbreviation of which I'm unaware).
'ur' put into 'be' is 'bure'.
'bure'+'au'='BUREAU'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bureau that I've seen before include "Chest of drawers or office" , "Item of furniture" , "Writing desk with drawers" , "The B in the FBI" , "Government department, agency" .)