Both my grandfathers were chartered engineers - neither went to university. They started working in industry at 14 after leaving school and apprenticing and then as they got older and progressed they would go to a combination of night school and "day release" in order to gain a higher national diploma or something similar from a polytechnic. My one grandfather joined the army in 1938 and actually progressed very quickly when he had an aptitude for radio and radar which were new and experts were thin on the ground. Radio communications were rapidly expanded in the British army after the disaster of 1940. He built a radar station in Egypt from "flat pack" basically and then the Germans bombed it! He was someone who could read some books and obscure technical manuals and work it all out. He also taught himself German. He would never talk about what he got up to in Europe after he landed on Gold beach in mid June 1944. I suspect he may have done classified work.

So by the time both of them got their chartered status they actually had plenty of practical experience behind what the job entailed and had spent time working for actual chartered engineers learning the ropes of that job as well and both had plenty experience of having to work it out for themselves instead of being spoon fed.

The way many engineers are trained to day is a disaster - you need experience at the sharp end before you progress up to being an engineer. The older engineers I work with often rant and rave about things being designed by someone who had read a book but has no actual experience with press tooling or hydraulics or whatever.