A rebel with ambition to rise in the world of scholarship (8)
I believe the answer is:
academia
'the world of scholarship' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a rebel with ambition to rise' is the wordplay.
'rebel' becomes 'cade' (15th-century rebel Jack Cade).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ambition' becomes 'aim' (aim can mean an ambition or goal).
'to rise' is a reversal indicator.
'aim' backwards is 'mia'.
'a'+'cade'+'mia'='ACADEMIA'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for academia that I've seen before include "Teaching environment" , "scholastic life" , "university life" , "scholarly life" , "Scholarly world" .)