Progressed at a high academic level (8)
I believe the answer is:
advanced
'progressed' is the definition.
('advance' can be a synonym of 'progress')
'a high academic level' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is located in the answer.
'level' could be 'a' (A level is an example) and 'a' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'at' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for advanced that I've seen before include "The latest" , "Lent - brought forward" , "Went ahead" , "Lent - ahead in development" , "provided loan" .)