The need to consolidate multi-ethnic, multi-confessional society, taking place in the context of intensified international interaction, makes it important to implement the strategy of forming a personality as a representative of an ethnic group, civil society and the world community. The formation of such qualities as citizenship, patriotism, social responsibility is closely associated with the formation of ideas about the socio-cultural values of the native people, about the dialogue of cultures, tolerance, and respect for the multinational, multicultural composition of the society. The ethnocultural approach, which defines ethnic culture as a source of personality development, requires special attention, considering upbringing and education as its most important component and main channel of translation, due to which the process of studying and appropriating ethnocultural experience in its symbolism and meanings contributes to the formation of a person’s personality, as a carrier, keeper and creator of ethnic culture. Based on the foregoing, the aim of the study is: to reveal the essential content of the civic identity of a personality, to substantiate the significance of the ethnocultural approach in its formation, to identify and experimentally verify the positive effects of the ethnocultural orientation of education. Research methods: theoretical methods, among which the analysis of the subject of research on the basis of the study of philosophical, psychological and pedagogical literature; reflective-system analysis of the justified organization of pedagogical activity. As empirical methods, questionnaires and testing of students were used. The study involved 200 students of I. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University. The study allows us to conclude that there is a significant presence of an ethnocultural component in the structure of the civic identity of an individual (the ethnic, All-Russian, and universal components of the cognitive, emotional-evaluative, value-orientational, and activity components), the importance of the ethnocultural approach in its formation (the use of ethnocultural pedagogical technologies, a characteristic feature which is a focus on the study of various aspects of traditional folk culture different ethnic groups and which may be personality-oriented technologies, design technologies, information and communication technologies, problem-dialogue technologies, game technologies, ethnopedagogical technologies, etc.), the effectiveness of the ethnocultural orientation of education. The results of the study can be used in the development of programs of civil, patriotic education of students in higher education, the organization of educational work with students, in the preparation of curators and mentors of educational groups.