University has afterthought about performance improvements (7)
I believe the answer is:
upturns
'improvements' is the definition.
(upturn is a kind of improvement)
'university has afterthought about performance' is the wordplay.
'university' becomes 'u'.
'has' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'afterthought' becomes 'ps' (ps stands for postscript).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'performance' becomes 'turn' (turn is a kind of performance).
'ps' placed around 'turn' is 'pturns'.
'u'+'pturns'='UPTURNS'
(Other definitions for upturns that I've seen before include "Rises" , "periods of economic success" .)