CRAN collaborates with nearly a hundred universities and research centres on five continents. These collaborations take the form of bilateral or collaborative agreements through European and international research programmes. Every year, several foreign scientists (teacher-researchers, post-doctoral fellows) are invited to CRAN for stays of a few days to several months.

CRAN's international relations are determined by the policies of our partner institutions:
- the European Directorate for Research and International Cooperation of the CNRS
- the International Relations Department of the University of Lorraine