Sure time to travel, like some retired academics (8)
I believe the answer is:
emeritus
'like some retired academics' is the definition.
(as in emeritus professors)
'sure time to travel' is the wordplay.
'to travel' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'travelled' mean this).
'sure'+'time'='suretime'
'suretime' with letters rearranged gives 'EMERITUS'.
(Other definitions for emeritus that I've seen before include "Retired and retaining title, say professor" , "Professor honourably retired" , "Honorific title" , "Designation of retired person" , "Title of one honourably retired from duty" .)