Reading University agent about to spill the beans (8)
I believe the answer is:
perusing
'reading' is the definition.
(perusing is a kind of reading)
'university agent about to spill the beans' is the wordplay.
'university' becomes 'u'.
'agent' becomes 'rep' (short for representative**).
'about' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'to spill the beans' becomes 'sing' (I've seen this in other clues).
'u'+'rep'='urep'
'urep' reversed gives 'peru'.
'peru'+'sing'='PERUSING'
(Other definitions for perusing that I've seen before include "Examining with attention" , "Reading carefully" .)