Criticise having to stay the course to acquire business degree (7)
I believe the answer is:
lambast
'criticise' is the definition.
(I know that lambast is a more specific form of the action criticise)
'to stay the course to acquire business degree' is the wordplay.
'to stay the course' becomes 'last' (I've seen this in another clue).
'to acquire' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'business degree' becomes 'mba' (Master of Business Administration degree).
'last' going around 'mba' is 'LAMBAST'.
'having' is the link.
(Other definitions for lambast that I've seen before include "Criticise severely" , "Be harsh critic of" , "Roast" , "Bash" , "Berate" .)