Don't be tempted to buy too much. It's easy to want to kit them out with everything they "may" ever need. We did it with our son, brought it all back and took it again each Summer and after the 3 years, far too much of it had never been used, some things hadn't even been opened.
Most Unis are in towns/cities with lots of shopping options, some Unis even have shops on campus. Most seem to have "markets" during Freshers week where they can buy second hand stuff donated by the outgoing students, or as a poster said upthread, charity shops in Uni towns are full of stuff donated by leaving students. They can get deliveries from Amazon and Argos and Ebay if they can't buy what they need in the town/city.
They can easily go out and buy what they need, when they need it.
Stick to basics for the kitchen/bathroom, and personal stuff. A basic set of crockery/cutlery/glasses, a couple of multi use pans, tin opener, small/simple first aid kit, packets of paracetamol, indigestion tablets, cough medicine (Just enough to start them off, they can buy what they need later as they need it). Phone/laptop charges. Basic stationery sets (most things are on computers anyway, so unlikely they'll do much, if any, writing on paper!) - if they want things, they can buy in town so they just need some simple basics to get them started. Sheets, pillows, pillow cases, duvet, duvet cover, mattress topper (some of the mattresses are vile!). Clothes airer, coat hangers, hanging coat hooks, linen basket. Soap, shampoo, shower gel, sponge, toilet cleaner, loo roll, towels, bathroom cleaner spray, shower mat. As others have said, fancy dress for freshers week, even if it's just a hawaii shirt and a sombrerro hat - no one cares about perfection!
I'd really restrict it to big/heavy stuff that's not easy for them to carry from town on the bus and small/simple person stuff.