In order to understand the research status of university autonomy in foreign countries,the knowledge map of university autonomy in 2007 -2017 was analyzed by CiteSpace visualization software. The research shows that the research is a hot issue con- cerned by scholars all over the world. The number of achievements keeps increasing and the types are rich. The scale of the study is closely related to the level of development of the country ( region) ,showing the interaction between countries ( regions) centered on the United States. The number of researchers is large,but most authors are independent. The high - frequency keywords of research are “autonomy”,“higher education”,“university”,“self - determination”,“model”,“behavior”and“student”and so on.