The image of ideological and political courses in colleges and universities refers to the overall judgment and evaluation of the public on the existence, operation and functional value of the ideological and political courses in colleges and universities. As the identity construction of self and other, the image of ideological and political courses in colleges and universities is shaped by both the self-shaping process in which ideological and political educators consciously construct and optimize the image, and the other-shaping process in which subjective impression of the public influences the image. The image communication of ideological and political courses in colleges and universities includes the process of self-communication, in which ideological and political educators actively disseminate the well-built image to the public, and the process of other-communication in which the image is transmitted and interpreted among the public. The relationship between image shaping and image communication of ideological and political courses in colleges and universities is interdependent and interactive, with the former being the original starting point of the latter and the latter being the necessary link of the former. The communication subject includes self-communication and other-communication personnel, and the communication content includes conceptual information, behavioral information and visual information, and the common communication paths include mass communication, interpersonal communication and organizational communication. In order to adapt to the social trend of diversification of communication subjects, diversification of communication channels, and multi-dimensional communication effects, we should start from three perspectives of perspective, content, and method, enrich the research paradigm of image communication, do a good job of crisis repair of image communication, and innovate the idea of communication by applying media integration communication strategy. Identifying the relationship between image shaping and communication of ideological and political courses in colleges and universities, clarifying the elements of communication, and exploring the optimization strategy of communication are the unity of conforming to the development trend, responding to the real problems, and complying with the expectations of the times, which is conducive to the enhancement of the quality of the ideological and political courses in colleges and universities and to cultivating talents capable of the construction of a strong country and the rejuvenation of the nation, while helping to spread the beauty and fame of the country.