CREAN aims to further enhance the academic field of children's rights as an interdisciplinary field of studies. The network is composed of European higher education institutions that work together to support the development of education, research and outreach activities.

The objectives of CREAN include:

• Promote attitudes that recognise children as subjects of rights principally as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Promote professional ethics that respect children as competent subjects.
• Promote children’s rights to resources and participation in decision-making.
• Promote learning between advanced programmes on children’s rights across European universities.
• Produce innovative knowledge and meet the need of forming human resources within Europe and on an international level.
• Foster cooperation between universities, public institutions and NGOs working in the field of children’s rights.

To achieve these objectives, the activities undertaken by CREAN include:

• The organization of conferences and seminars
• Exchange of information (newsletter) and good practices
• Promotion of the interests of its members
• Exchange of students and teachers
• Events for students and alumni
• Research and outreach projects
• Scientific publications