To me thats what seems to be the main issue between taking the uni or college route compared with an apprenticeship. A lot of employers, as Kenny said, will choose someone with practical experience over someone with the written qualifications from an instituion and I can understand why.

After three years of uni, the most practical work Ive had related to the curriculum was to build a small hinge in first year (the biggest piece of apparatus we used was a pillar drill - the rest was all school-level technical work) and to dismantle and rebuild a small motorcycle engine in 2nd year. That wont help us much when it comes to being asked to operate lathes/mills etc

We have a mechanics club in uni but it hasnt really taken off. The most we can use unsupervised is the pillar drill again, even for the lathe we have to ask a technician to do it (all due to Health and Safety restrictions within the department).

Based on what Ive learned from the past couple of years at uni: if you decide to go down the uni path, make sure you work hard to pass your exams first time round so you can keep your summers free from resit exams. Then you can use the holidays to do internships and placements at engineering companies and (depending on where you get an internship) you can gain valuable experience using machines. You might not have a bit of paper that says youre qualified to operate that machine but the useful thing is that you can.

Fortunately youre also in a hobby that requires machine use from time to time and, even if you dont have your own machines, you will probably be able to ask around for some practice time and instruction on using machines. Every bit of experience you get will stand you in good stead further down the line.