Crossword Genius

Part of rarefied atmosphere related to prestigious university's backing (1,5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

e layer

'part of rarefied atmosphere' is the definition.

'related to prestigious university's backing' is the wordplay.
'related to' becomes 're' (abbreviation for 'regarding').
'prestigious university' becomes 'yale'.
'backing' says the letters should be written in reverse.
're'+'yale'='reyale'
'reyale' written backwards gives 'E LAYER'.

(Another definition for e layer that I've seen is " atmospheric thing".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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