 Higher education in the city can be traced back to the second half of the eighteenth century , when the ownership of the city was inherited by Field Crown Hetman Jan Klemens Branicki . As a patron of the arts and sciences , Branicki encouraged numerous artists and scientists to settle in Białystok to take advantage of Branicki 's patronage . In 1745 Branicki established Poland 's first military college , the School of Civil and Military Engineering , in the city . 
