Work with university colleague, in fact (8)
I believe the answer is:
actually
'in fact' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'work with university colleague' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'act' (synonyms).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
'colleague' becomes 'ally' (I've seen this in another clue).
'act'+'u'+'ally'='ACTUALLY'
(Other definitions for actually that I've seen before include "Really existing" , "As a matter of fact" , "In reality" , "Really, in fact" , "A lay cult may be existing in fact" .)