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School now, then this? A learner's acting alone (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

unilateral

'acting alone' is the definition.
(acting on one side or independently)

'school now then this? a learner's' is the wordplay.
'school now then this?' becomes 'unilater' (if school now, then university later).
'learner' becomes 'l'.
'unilater'+'a'+'l'='UNILATERAL'

(Other definitions for unilateral that I've seen before include "affecting only one person out of several" , "One-sided" , "Done only by one side" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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