Immediately after the entry of Polotsk into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the city appeared Jesuits. The Jesuits had the support of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the King of Poland Stefan Batory and they began active work to expand the influence of the Catholic Church in the region. In 1580 the Polotsky Jesuit collegium was opened. It was the first secondary educational institution of the Jesuit order on the territory of modern Belarus. The collegium accepted children of any religion, the education in the college was free and it lasted 8-9 years.
By the end of the 18th century the monastic complex consisted of more than ten stone buildings. The dominant of the monastery was the church of St. Stephen, whose towers rose to a height of almost 60 m. In the buildings of the Jesuit monastery, besides the classrooms and monastic cells, there were a museum, an art gallery, a printing house, a canteen, a theater, as well as numerous business services, craft workshops and small manufactures.
In 1812 the Polotsk Jesuit Collegium received the status of the Academy with the rights of Russian universities. However, the first higher institution on the territory of modern Belarus existed only for 8 years. According to the rescript of Alexander I, in 1820 the Jesuits were expelled from the Russian Empire.