Work at university accepted by local area people (8)
I believe the answer is:
populace
'people' is the definition.
'work at university accepted by local area' is the wordplay.
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'university' becomes 'u' (abbreviation for university).
'accepted by' is an insertion indicator.
'local area' becomes 'place' (place is a kind of area. I am not sure about the 'local' bit.).
'op'+'u'='opu'
'opu' inserted inside 'place' is 'POPULACE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for populace that I've seen before include "The plebs" , "Masses" , "Citizens" , "Common people" , "Inhabitants" .)