Tresham and partner Corby Council have put in a bid for the site of Corby Community College from the county council, which owns the 16-acre site off Oakley Road.
Most of the land will be used for the Tresham campus, which will relocate from its cu
rrent base in George Street, but a portion of the site, near the rail station in Station Road, will be set aside for the university.
The move has been made possible as the current secondary school on the site is closing and pupils will be transferring to the Priors Hall Academy, due to open this September.
The councils and MPs in Kettering and Corby are currently trying to persuade the Government to locate a university in north Northamptonshire after it was announced 20 new campuses will be built across the country.
The borough councils have signed an agreement to work together on a joint bid. However, Corby MP Phil Hope is campaigning for the university to have its main base in Corby.
Corby Council's chief executive Chris Mallender said: "In Corby. the timing of this Government initiative could not be better. Due to a concerted behind the scenes effort we have secured agreement for Tresham Institute to acquire the whole 16-acre site of the Community College, south of the proposed Corby Walk as the location for its new £20m campus.
"A funding bid will be submitted this month, with a decision expected in July.
"Four acres of the site, immediately alongside the new railway station has been earmarked as university land.
North Northamptonshire Development Company has commissioned designers EDAW to draw up a masterplan for the whole of the Corby Central site to maximise its use for business and educational use. This is expected to accommodate more than 300,000 sq ft of office space when fully developed."
Mr Hope said: "The next hurdle is for the Learning Skills Council to provide funding to build the new FE college on this site and to convince the Government to provide funding for a university campus on the remaining four acres allocated for this purpose."
Director of resources at Tresham, Chris Hole, said: "We are in negotiations for that site. As yet we have not finalised negotiations with the county council. We will make an announcement with all parties involved when we have finalised plans."
The new Corby campus follows a campus in Kettering opening last year.
