Head of institute with no heart makes for pretty unlikeable protagonist (8)
I believe the answer is:
antihero
'pretty unlikeable protagonist' is the definition.
'antihero' can be an answer for 'protagonist' (antihero is a kind of protagonist). I am unsure of the 'pretty unlikeable' bit.
'head of institute with no heart makes' is the wordplay.
'head of' says to take the initial letters.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'makes' indicates anagramming the letters.
The initial letter of 'institute' is 'i'.
'no'+'heart'='noheart'
'i' after 'noheart' is 'nohearti'.
'nohearti' is an anagram of 'ANTIHERO'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for antihero that I've seen before include "Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984, for example" , "ignoble character" , "principal character lacking noble qualities" , "Central character lacking traditional courageous attributes" , "Unconventional principal character" .)