Urges simple reforms covering university -- and succeeded (8)
I believe the answer is:
impulses
'urges' is the definition.
('impulse' can be a synonym of 'urge')
'simple reforms covering university and succeeded' is the wordplay.
'reforms' indicates anagramming the letters.
'covering' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'university' becomes 'u'.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
'simple' anagrammed gives 'implse'.
'implse' going around 'u' is 'impulse'.
'impulse'+'s'='IMPULSES'
(Other definitions for impulses that I've seen before include "Sudden urges or stimuli" , "Sudden inclinations to act" .)