This bibliometric review maps 224 studies on student agency in higher education published between 2000 and 2022, finding that 80% appeared after 2017 — signalling a field rapidly gaining momentum. Five schools of thought shape the literature: socio-cultural, social-cognitive, feedback and assessment, motivation and engagement, and learning analytics. A key finding is that agency is not a fixed student trait but a relational feature of educational environments — one that can be deliberately strengthened through curriculum design, teaching practice and assessment. The review notes a significant geographic imbalance in the research base, with most knowledge produced in the US, Australia and the UK, raising questions about whose experience of agency is being theorised.