A number of students with joints? The types you can get for free in support of being academically bright!

I believe the answer is:

scholarships

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'types you can get for free in support of being academically bright' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'a number of students with joints?' is the wordplay.
'a number of students' becomes 'scholars' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'joints?' becomes 'hips' (hip is a kind of joint).
'scholars'+'hips'='SCHOLARSHIPS'

'the' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for scholarships that I've seen is " Student awards".)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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