Influential group of students changing sides (7)

I believe the answer is:

seminal

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'influential' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

I can't explain the rest of the clue.

(Other definitions for seminal that I've seen before include "Of beginnings or early developments" , "Major" , "Menials (anag) - creative" , "Majorly influential" , "Of seed, or giving rise to new developments" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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