The academic takes it as benefit (6)
I believe the answer is:
profit
'benefit' is the definition.
(I know that benefit can be written as profit)
'the academic takes it' is the wordplay.
'the academic' becomes 'prof' (short for professor).
'takes' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'prof'+'it'='PROFIT'
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for profit that I've seen before include "Financial gain" , "returns" , "Gain, return on investment" , "Clean up" , "Yield - gain" .)