When an Exchange Semester Is No Longer Enough: Why and How the Bologna-Reforms Changed the Behavior of High-Ability Students?

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is a rather well written paper. Some suggestions for improvements:

- Be clearer in the presentation of research questions -

- Elaborate the choice of explanatory variables

- Explain more in details the findings linked to the theory

-Write more about limitation of this study

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

thank you very much for your comments. We have re-written large sections of the paper to address the points that you have raised (be clearer in the presentation of the research question, elaborate on the choice of explanatory variables, explain your findings linked to the underlying theory and be more precise about the limitations of the study).  All the changes are marked in yellow to enable an easy comparison between the two versions of the paper.

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors of the article touched upon one of the key problems of the Bologna process: the need and provision of the European labor market with high-quality specialists. The research tools used are fully consistent with the needs and objectives of the study. The conclusions reached by the authors are of great importance both for Germany (the country where the study was conducted) and for other countries of the Bologna Process. In addition to practical value, the work is an important significant contribution to the development of theoretical sociological knowledge.

Of the disadvantages, it should be noted the presence of unreliable references to sources (161, 216, 244, 258, 263, 291, 322, 330, 339, 379).

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

thank you very much for your friendly review. We have re-written several sections of the paper to make its message even clearer. All changes are marked in yellow to enable a quick comparison between the two versions.