Maybe undergraduates' exploits overwhelming disheartened debutante (8)
I believe the answer is:
students
'maybe undergraduates'' is the definition.
(undergraduate is a type of student)
'exploits overwhelming disheartened debutante' is the wordplay.
'exploits' becomes 'stunts' (stunt is a kind of exploit).
'overwhelming' is an insertion indicator.
'disheartened' suggests removing the centre.
'debutante' with its centre removed is 'de'.
'stunts' enclosing 'de' is 'STUDENTS'.
(Other definitions for students that I've seen before include "Sent dust to the learners?" , "Learners or scholars" , "Trainee medics possibly" , "Learners as at school" , "Pupils, learners" .)