Going in a particular direction, academic follows points on the compass (3-2)
I believe the answer is:
end-on
'going in a particular direction' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.
'academic follows points on the compass' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'academic' could be 'don' (type of academic - especially at Oxbridge) and 'don' is present in the answer.
'points' could be 'en' (two compass points) and 'en' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for end-on that I've seen before include "With one side pointing towards the front" , "Opposite of 'side-on'" , "One view of object" , "Viewed from the tip" , "With one side or the other towards the observer" .)