Open University book inspires college sequel (7)
I believe the answer is:
outcome
'sequel' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'open university book inspires college' is the wordplay.
'open university' becomes 'ou'.
'book' becomes 'tome' (tome is a kind of book).
'inspires' indicates putting letters inside (inspire means to breathe in).
'college' becomes 'c'.
'tome' enclosing 'c' is 'tcome'.
'ou'+'tcome'='OUTCOME'
(Other definitions for outcome that I've seen before include "consequences" , "Cute moo (anag.)" , "Consequence, effect" , "Consequence, upshot" , "answer" .)