Initially doing English, checked by stern university lecturer (6)
I believe the answer is:
reader
'university lecturer' is the definition.
(type of academic)
'initially doing english checked by stern' is the wordplay.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
'checked by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'stern' becomes 'rear' (synonyms).
The first letters of 'doing english' is 'de'.
'de' put inside 'rear' is 'READER'.
(Other definitions for reader that I've seen before include "She lectures" , "member of the university" , "University lecturer, the highest rank below a professor" , "Peruser of texts" , "Peruser of text" .)