Education involves transferring knowledge, skills, and habits from one generation to the next through teaching and learning. Knowledge includes facts, information, and skills gained from experience or education. Skills refer to the ability to perform tasks with predictable results within a given time or effort. Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. Schools provide formal education and instruction under the direction of teachers, which is often compulsory. Universities offer higher education and grant academic degrees across many subjects as well as undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Academies are institutions of higher learning that can also focus on research or honorary membership, tracing back to Plato's school of philosophy.