University trades tempo for action cards. There are two clear situations where this trade-off is really useful:
a) if the action you get has enormous raw value (wharf, torturer, city ...)
b) for action combos. (Bridge, conspirator, goons, even if it can't itself get the goons: anything that needs a *very* action heavy engine will enjoy the university) In which case you usually don't go for provinces as your only points. Gardens, fairgrounds, dukes, islands, vineyard, colonies or vp all make this viable. Great hall is *sometimes* sufficient for a conspirator chain to win despite the tempo loss.
The last possible use of university is as a hedge when you are actually aiming for a higher cost potion card (typically golem). It won't syngergize massively, but you probably won't be playing multiple universities anyway.
In short, getting an early university for high value throughout the game is ok. Setting up comboes is ok. Hedging with it is ok. In the action case, because you usually lose a fair bit of tempo, you need some kind of alternative source of points to make the engine worthwhile.