Note university students are tedious (4)
I believe the answer is:
dull
'are tedious' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'note university students' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'd' (musical note).
'university' becomes 'U' (abbreviation for university).
'students' becomes 'LL' (two abbreviations for learner).
'd'+'u'+'ll'='DULL'
(Other definitions for dull that I've seen before include "Not interesting" , "Not exciting" , "Lusterless or uninteresting" , "Boring - not sunny" , "Uninteresting, tedious" .)