University commended and elevated (8)
I believe the answer is:
upraised
'elevated' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'university commended' is the wordplay.
'university' becomes 'u'.
'commended' becomes 'praised' (I've seen this before).
'u'+'praised'='UPRAISED'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for upraised that I've seen before include "Exalted" , "Elevated" , "Lifted" , "Given higher position" , "promoted" .)