Position figures around university (6)
I believe the answer is:
status
'position' is the definition.
(I know that position can be written as status)
'figures around university' is the wordplay.
'figures' becomes 'stats' (short for statistics).
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
'stats' placed around 'u' is 'STATUS'.
(Other definitions for status that I've seen before include "Class" , "Rank or position in society" , "Social ranking" , "One's standing in the community" , "legal position" .)