Political awareness among university students constitutes a fundamental prerequisite for active citizenship and democratic participation in contemporary societies. Adopting a quantitative approach and a descriptive-correlational design, the present study investigated the relationship between media literacy, critical thinking, and political awareness among students at Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan. The statistical population comprised all undergraduate students enrolled during the first semester of the 2024–2025 academic year. Applying Cochran’s formula with a 5% margin of error, the required sample size was estimated at 370 participants; however, to compensate for potential incomplete responses, 410 questionnaires were distributed, of which 380 valid cases were ultimately analyzed. A stratified random sampling method proportional to the population size of each faculty was employed. Data collection instruments included three standardized questionnaires: the Media Literacy Questionnaire, developed by Gholamreza Falsafi (2014); the California Critical Thinking Skills Test, originally devised by Facione and colleagues (1989–1990); and the Political Awareness Questionnaire, constructed by Masoudnia (2008). The reliability of the instruments was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, which ranged from 0.77 to 0.79, indicating acceptable internal consistency. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, employing Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple linear regression analyses. The findings revealed a positive and significant relationship between media literacy and political awareness. Moreover, a stronger positive association was observed between critical thinking and political awareness. The multiple regression results further indicated that the combined dimensions of media literacy and critical thinking accounted for approximately 62.6% of the variance in political awareness. Among the subcomponents, "awareness of hidden agendas" and "inductive reasoning" emerged as the most substantial predictors of political awareness, respectively. These findings underscore the imperative of integrating media literacy and critical thinking instruction into university curricula to enhance the political awareness of the younger generation.