Set your sights on a state-backed scholarly environment (8)
I believe the answer is:
academia
'scholarly environment' is the definition.
(the scholarly or academic world)
'set your sights on a state-backed' is the wordplay.
'set your sights on' becomes 'aimed' (to aim for something is to set your sights on it).
'state' becomes 'ca' (abbreviation for California).
'backed' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'aimed'+'a'+'ca'='aimedaca'
'aimedaca' written backwards gives 'ACADEMIA'.
(Other definitions for academia that I've seen before include "Teaching environment" , "The world of college or university" , "Educational community" , "university life" , "educational environment" .)