Retired professors from Cambridge ultimately deserve one (7)
I believe the answer is:
emeriti
'retired professors' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cambridge ultimately deserve one' is the wordplay.
'ultimately' indicates one should take the final letters.
'deserve' becomes 'merit' ('merit' can be a synonym of 'deserve').
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
The final letter of 'cambridge' is 'e'.
'e'+'merit'+'i'='EMERITI'
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for emeriti that I've seen before include "Former professors" , "(Of, say, professors) retired, but retaining title" , "Old professors" , "Eg, retired professors" , "Honorary retired academics" .)