The Institute is in close collaboration with many renowned overseas universities as well as institutes in China including the Chinese Academy of Science, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Palace Museum, the National Museum of China, the China Numismatic Museum, and the Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage. We work together organizing joint projects in student education, training courses, and research. Meanwhile, the Institute has signed agreements with many archaeological institutes and museums across China, allowing students to participate in archaeological surveys and excavations, conservation of cultural heritage, research projects, and archival investigations. We enable students to gain substantial practical experience.

The Institute also maintains strong collaborative relationships with more than 50 overseas universities and research institutes in 15 countries. The joint research projects have been developed with scholars from Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, MIT, Boston University, Lehigh University, The University of Tübingen, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum, Heidelberg University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, University College London, University of Nottingham, the Needham Research Institute, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since 1981, the faculty have also been involved in organizing the last eight conferences on the Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys (BUMA). A series of summer schools on Chinese culture, archaeometallurgy, and art conservation were held together with Lehigh, Yale, and Silpakorn University in Thailand.