Greek island is initially in touch with academy in old African territory (8)
I believe the answer is:
rhodesia
'old african territory' is the definition.
'greek island is initially in touch' is the wordplay.
'greek island' becomes 'rhodes' (I've seen this before).
'is initially in touch' becomes 'ia' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'rhodes'+'ia'='RHODESIA'
'with academy in' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rhodesia that I've seen before include "Salisbury was its capital" , "former state" , "former republic" , "place once overseen by Smith" , "What became Zimbabwe" .)