Facilitating national, regional and international collaboration among universities enhances knowledge creation and transfer, giving support to nuclear education and capacity building. Networking educators through regional and interregional cooperation, enables more effective and efficient use of resources, sharing educational experiences, good practices and lessons learned, and establishing forums to discuss policies and strategies.
To foster regional partnership among nuclear education and training institutions, the IAEA provides support to regional educational networks in Asia (ANENT), Africa (AFRA-NEST), Latin-American and Caribbean Region (LANENT), and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (STAR-NET). Close cooperation is also encouraged with the regional nuclear education network in Europe (ENEN).
On the occasion of the 58th IAEA General Conference, in 2013, the educational networks had signed a common action plan to collaborate in several areas of Nuclear Education field. The success of this agreement was such that on March 2, 2017 a renewed collaboration agreement among four regional educational Networks was signed at Manchester University, to extend it for another 3 years and to expand it to include the more recently established educational network, STAR-NET. Later in April 2017 on the occasion of the AFRA High Level Steering Committee for Human Resource Development and Nuclear Knowledge Management held at the IAEA, after having viewed and considered its content and the supporting Action Plan, AFRA-NEST have decided to join the other regional educational networks in signing the common Collaboration Agreement.

Network executive leaders through brainstorming and fruitful dialogue laid-out a collective plan, identifying common objectives and activities of mutual interest, synergic actions and material to share in three main areas: human resource development, outreach, and technology and tools. Participants also reflected on ways and means to enhance sustainability and self-reliance of the four IAEA-fostered regional educational networks.