Formal study to consider institute at Southern Spain (8)
I believe the answer is:
treatise
'formal study' is the definition.
'treatise' can be an answer for 'study' (I've seen this before). I am unsure of the 'formal' bit.
'consider institute at southern spain' is the wordplay.
'consider' becomes 'treat' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'institute' becomes 'i' (common abbreviation as in MIT).
'at' says to put letters next to each other.
'southern' becomes 's' (abbreviation).
'spain' becomes 'e' (abbreviation for Espana).
'treat'+'i'+'s'+'e'='TREATISE'
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for treatise that I've seen before include "theory" , "Written composition" , "Thesis" , "Essay on theme" , "Learned work formally dealing with a subject" .)