Starving corvids circling old university (8)
I believe the answer is:
ravenous
'starving' is the definition.
(both can mean very hungry)
'corvids circling old university' is the wordplay.
'corvids' becomes 'ravens' (ravens are corvids).
'circling' indicates putting letters inside (circling can mean going around or containing).
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
'o'+'u'='ou'
'ravens' enclosing 'ou' is 'RAVENOUS'.
(Other definitions for ravenous that I've seen before include "Intensely hungry" , "Extremely hungry" , "Famished" , "Voracious" , "Voraciously hungry" .)