Education and science courses remain popular among Diploma of Secondary Education graduates when choosing what they want to study at university.

Some 39,450 students have applied to local universities through the Joint University Programmes Admission System, where they could change up to five program choices between last Thursday to Saturday after receiving their DSE exam results.

The program with the fiercest competition this year is the Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Chinese History) offered by the Education University, which provides 10 places for the program with 392 applicants - meaning there are 39 applicants competing for one place.

The program that received the most applicants is the Bachelor of Science course offered by the Chinese University, with 1,827 candidates putting the program in their band A choice hoping to get one of the 352 spots.

After candidates modified their program choices by Saturday, the University of Hong Kong said it received the most applications in Bachelor of Science programs, with 1,172 applicants competing for 305 places.

HKU's most competitive course is its Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education and Special Education, with 12 applicants competing for one place. Its second most competitive course is its Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education in Language Education - English (Double Degree) program, with 148 applicants putting the program in their Band A choice, with only 17 spots available - which means there are around nine applicants competing for each spot.

The Chinese University's most competitive program is its Physical Education, Exercise Science and Health course, with 447 applicants competing for 17 spots - that is around 26 applicants competing for one spot. The second most competitive program is Japanese Studies, with 449 candidates competing for 22 spots, or around 20 candidates per spot.

Another popular course in CUHK is the Integrated Bachelor of Business Administration program, which offers 222 places but there are 1,535 applicants.

The University of Science and Technology said their program with the fiercest competition is its BBA in Finance program, which offers 30 spots but saw 141 applicants, or 4.7 applicants competing for each vacancy.

City University's programs with the fiercest competition are its Bachelor of Science Computer Science and BBA Marketing courses, both having 8.7 applicants competing for each spot.

Its BBA accountancy program has the most applicants, with 915 applicants competing for 150 places.

Baptist University has roughly 33 applicants competing for each spot of their Game Design and Animation program. Its most popular program is the Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) program, with 1146 applicants.

And the Education University's second most competitive program is the Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Sports Science and Coaching, with 35 applicants competing for one place. Its Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Early Childhood Education) course has 49 places for its 1287 applicants, while its Bachelor of Education (Honours) (Physical Education) program received 916 applications competing for the 28 places.

Education, science top choices for DSE grads