Substandard home for college department (7)
I believe the answer is:
faculty
'department' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for faculty that I've seen before include "Power to act" , "Section of university; aptitude" , "mental awareness" , "Group of university departments" , "Part of university" .)