Solitude a solution, I gathered, having abandoned university (9)
I believe the answer is:
isolation
'solitude' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
(Other definitions for isolation that I've seen before include "Detachment" , "State of being alone" , "Separation, solitariness" , "Remote and lonely state" , "Remoteness" .)