Vanuatu, which is a collection of 80 islands in the South Pacific, wants the MMUCE partnership to support its Olympic footballers, beach volleyball players, track and field athletes and table tennis players as well as the development of other sports such as archery, basketball, boxing, cricket, netball and rugby sevens.

Dennis Dunn, the Dean of MMU Cheshire, said: "We are proud to welcome the people of Vanuatu to Cheshire. We have first class sports and sport science facilities that have been approved by the London Organising Committee, and superb residential and catering facilities at least on a par with those in the Olympic Village."

Antoine Boudier, President of the Vanuatu National Olympic Committee, said: "Vanuatu is very excited about this development and we very much hope that this new venture will greatly assist in raising the performance standards of our young and aspiring athletes preparing for London 2012 and beyond.”

The partnership, which also involves Crewe Alexandra FC, will start in 2010, run through 2012 onto the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and possibly beyond.

MMU Cheshire becomes the latest university to reach a pre Games training camps agreement with an international Olympic Committee. The University of Birmingham will host the fastest man in the world and three-time Olympic gold medallist, Usain Bolt along with his Jamaican track and field teammates.

The South Africa Paralympic squad will train at Cardiff University (Prifysgol Caerdydd), so stars such as sprinter Oscar Pistorius and swimmer Natalie du Toit, should become a common site on campus. Pistorius and du Toit’s countrymen will be just across the M4 in Twickenham as St Mary’s University College has agreed terms with the South Africa Olympic squad - making it the first institution in the capital to confirm such a deal.

Meanwhile, Loughborough University and Durham University have signed agreements with Japan and Sri Lanka respectively.

To find out more about London 2012 training camps visit the website or to see more about how the north west of England is engaging with London 2012 watch this video.