With the continuous development of the times, the society has higher and higher requirements for the comprehensive quality of college students. It needs not only single knowledge talents, but also comprehensive high-quality talents with cultural awareness and cultural self-confidence. Teaching practice has proved that ideological and political education plays a crucial role in cultural construction. Therefore, colleges and universities should actively explore how to scientifically use ideological and political education to improve college students' cultural consciousness and self-confidence and promote the construction process of our socialist civilized society. As a new concept, cultural self-consciousness is an innovative way to regulate the development of society and nation, which is also found and studied by ideological and political education in colleges and universities. It is of great significance to analyze the cultural characteristics, functions, and existing problems of ideological and political education for college students in order to improve their ideological and cultural quality.