Instituto Cervantes (IC) is a worldwide non-profit organisation created by the Spanish government in 1991. Its mission is to promote the teaching, study and use of Spanish as a second language and to contribute to the advancement of Spanish and Hispanic American cultures throughout non-Spanish speaking countries. Instituto Cervantes has established a network of over 40 centres in 27 different countries. In some of these countries the IC runs Aulas – reading-rooms that work within or in close co-operation with the local universities. In 2005 a Ljubljana office was opened: