Desperate character grabbing English head of college (4)
I believe the answer is:
dean
'head of college' is the definition.
(dean can mean the head of a college)
'desperate character grabbing english' is the wordplay.
'desperate character' becomes 'dan' (Desperate Dan the comic character).
'grabbing' indicates putting letters inside.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'dan' enclosing 'e' is 'DEAN'.
(Other definitions for dean that I've seen before include "Jonathan Swift's occupation" , "school head" , "Senior church official" , "Cathedral cleric" , "James ..., film star famous for his moody rebellious roles" .)