Research on the presence and understanding of gender and feminism in higher education in Croatia is modest. Due to the relevance of the terms gender and feminism in Croatian society today, this study seeks to emphasize the importance of these concepts in education. This paper presents results of a small-scale qualitative study which explored how students understand gender and feminism and how these are addressed in higher education. The research was conducted using focus groups involving sociology and pedagogy students, as well as those studying to become teachers/educators at the University of Zadar. Its starting point was that dealing with gender and feminism requires a liberatory concept of education, therefore the research also explored the banking concept and liberatory concept in higher education. In terms of findings, participants showed that they both understand and misunderstand the meaning of the terms gender and feminism. There is a difference between those who have positive connotations of gender and emphasize their knowledge about the difference between gender and sex, and those who have negative connotations and link it to sexuality. Feminism takes on a positive meaning in terms of the struggle for equality though some participants point out negative aspects of the exploitation of the feminist movement. Media, religion and education contribute to the participants' understanding of these concepts. The concepts of gender and feminism are particularly included in the study of sociology and anthropology, while study programmes in pedagogy and teacher education rarely mention these topics. The studies are dominated by the banking concept of education, but there are also instances of the liberatory concept of education which encourages critical thinking.