In 2015, every student at China's almost 3,000 universities spent an average 1,100 yuan ($156) on online purchases and received 16 parcels each, making university campuses key areas of competition for express delivery companies.

The volume of deliveries and on-campus management of the companies' operations pose problems for college administrators.

Two years ago, parcels delivered to university campuses accounted for about 6 percent of the national total, which helped to create 70,000 jobs, according to a report published by a working committee for Campus Express, a public institute at the China Association for Campus Management, AliResearch, the research arm of the commerce giant Alibaba Group, and the Cainiao Network, Alibaba's logistics division.