Go with European academic, excited (6,2)
I believe the answer is:
turned on
'excited' is the definition.
(turning on is a kind of exciting)
'go with european academic' is the wordplay.
'go' becomes 'turn' ('turn' can be a synonym of 'go'**).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'academic' becomes 'don' (I've seen this before).
'turn'+'e'+'don'='TURNED ON'
(Other definitions for turned on that I've seen before include "Stimulated" , "TV working?" , "Excited" , "Feeling great excitement" , "Activated - aroused" .)