Left before winning scholarship (8)
I believe the answer is:
learning
'scholarship' is the definition.
(I know that scholarship can be written as learning)
'left before winning' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'L' (common abbreviation).
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'winning' becomes 'earning' (win can mean to earn or obtain).
'l'+'earning'='LEARNING'
(Other definitions for learning that I've seen before include "Large inn (anag)" , "Discovering, finding out" , "Instruction" , "Acquired knowledge" , "Researching - scholarship" .)