The research project Crossing Borders relies on the thesis that the meaning ascribed to education in the modernization of Danish womanhood changed between 1940 and 1970 and that professional education played an important but overlooked role to women’s entry into higher learning. The aim of the research project is to explore the thesis from a dual and comparative perspective: a study of female students at the teacher college at Jonstrup and a study of professionally trained women’s entry into Aarhus University. The project will explore and compare gendered affective encounters when women enrolled in professional colleges and universities. It investigates their social background, motives and ambitions, and it situates the findings in a historical context of a rising welfare state and changing narratives about women’s educational possibilities. A quantitative study of the enrolment of female students across higher education institutions will frame the two research projects.