There are many FTEs in the world that have never done a 'recognised' course, but have gained experience in the world of Flight Test in industry and carried on to run major (and multinational) projects from initial flights to out of service.
I completely agree, but knowing the background of the OP helps to answer the question posed. The level of on-the-job exposure required for a Graduate FTE (post graduation) vs. a Non-Graduate FTE may be quite different. Therefore I think the question is valid.
Would a Graduate FTE just out of TPS be expected to run a high complexity high risk flight trial with minimal supervision? No, probably not (not least because flight testing is a team effort). But he would be a lot closer to achieving that theoretical goal than someone who has done on-the-job FTO/FTE training for 5 years since graduating from university.
Pruner