This comes as Ministry of Education figures showed the number of overseas students studying in Otago dropped 4% last year to 3285.
Mr Cull said the city's ''export education strategy'' was developed as part of the council's economic development strategy and involved having more co-operation between Dunedin schools and tertiary institutions.
At present, organisations recruited international students separately, which meant there was ''quite a lot of duplication, quite a lot of cost and relatively little impact because they are all so small'', he said.
The strategy, which was a collaboration between education providers, including the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic, and the council, would create a ''whole of city'' message, which was positive from a marketing perspective.
If implemented well, it had the potential to provide a large boost to the numbers of students coming to Dunedin study.
''I think we have got the potential to be the ... premier export education destination for Australasia.''
The council would initially fund the strategy out of a budget already set aside for implementing the city's economic development strategy, he said.
''Frankly, as I see it at the moment, there is not a great deal of funding required to get the next stage under way.''
It would also be funded by education providers.
Otago Polytechnic communications director Mike Waddell, who helped develop the strategy which was led by the polytechnic, said a city-wide approach was needed.
''The city needs a strategy, our competitors globally are pulling together city-wide strategies,'' Mr Waddell said.
It was also more than just about attracting students to the city, with online education providers also included.
The strategy was still in its early stages, but had been signed off by the economic development steering group and was now being introduced to education providers.
