The article summarizes the outcomes of a survey conducted in autumn 2020 among Tuvan and Russian students of agricultural universities in the five largest Siberian cities (Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, and Barnaul). The author compares how much their socio-cultural potential matches the basis of the spiritual and ecological strategy of society development. This civilizational strategy is introduced as an alternative to the technogenic-consumer model of social order, which dominates in the modern world and is assessed by many experts as one of a crisis type. A range of issues is considered in the article in a comparative way. Despite the current situation with COVID-19 pandemic, most young people tend to feel calm and confident. Tuvans are socially more stable and less demanding of external conditions. They are particularly concerned about the prospects of their own lives. There is a demand for social justice and the well-being of the population. These and other unresolved social problems are one of the factors explaining the respondents' low level of national identity. Tuvans have more conspicuous ethnic and Siberian identities than Russians, but the global identity is equally high in both groups. Values intricately connected to traditional culture dominate among young people. In their majority (with a small superiority among the Tuvans) they consider most important to have a good family, health, education, friendly relations with relatives, colleagues, neighbors, as well as a good ecological environment. Involvement in politics, career ambitions, life abroad, as well as life in the countryside do not appeal to them. Many students believe that the currently dominant model of technogenic-consumer civilization is in a state of crisis and most of them support the idea of moving on to an alternative spiritual and ecological development strategy. The socio-cultural potential of young people in general is characterized by qualitative characteristics that can provide the prerequisites for implementing this model. Tuvans students — more frequently than Russians — are confident that this transition is possible, which is largely due to the influence of Buddhist and nomadic traditions.