This sort of question is impossible to answer without specific information. As far as I know the IEE / IET have always welcomed engineers with experience, but being able to prove that you have the right amount of knowledge is more difficult. 

I agree that you can pick up a lot of knowledge just by doing the job, and having the knowledge gained from a university degree without knowing how to apply it, is not much good. Once you get to a certain level in your profession, it is all about experience.

Experience needs to be more than "This is the way to do it, because it is always done this way", to being "This is the way we should do it, to meet this requirement and avoid these problems".

What I think the level the Professional Institutions are looking for is - do you know the principles underlying how we build certain things, can you identify where we need to know the principles, and knowing the principles, could you apply these to a similar but unrelated application?

This sort of question is impossible to answer without specific information. As far as I know the IEE / IET have always welcomed engineers with experience, but being able to prove that you have the right amount of knowledge is more difficult. 

I agree that you can pick up a lot of knowledge just by doing the job, and having the knowledge gained from a university degree without knowing how to apply it, is not much good. Once you get to a certain level in your profession, it is all about experience.

Experience needs to be more than "This is the way to do it, because it is always done this way", to being "This is the way we should do it, to meet this requirement and avoid these problems".

What I think the level the Professional Institutions are looking for is - do you know the principles underlying how we build certain things, can you identify where we need to know the principles, and knowing the principles, could you apply these to a similar but unrelated application?