Sculpture made in great institutions of learning (7)
I believe the answer is:
academe
'institutions of learning' is the definition.
'sculpture made in great' is the wordplay.
'sculpture' is an anagram indicator.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'great' becomes 'ace' (both can mean a talented person).
'made' anagrammed gives 'adem'.
'adem' inserted into 'ace' is 'ACADEME'.
(Other definitions for academe that I've seen before include "Scholarly life" , "university life" , "The world of scholars" , "Educational environment" , "The educational sector" .)