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OttoJ1. For 'Exeter College Student Union', is THE required or optional?

Optional.

OttoJ2. For the abbreviation, why not THE ECSU? Is THE optional?

It is generally omitted with acronyms.

Thank you~

Do you mean, by acronyms, these?:

-the UK/US
-the UN
-the CIA

Does your answer mean I can omit the THEs above?

Some of these abbreviations are used with the article and some are not, you just have to learn these by experience. UK, US, UN, CIA, NYPD, and LAPD are used with the definite article. NATO, CUNY, USC, UCLA (abbreviations for colleges are generally used without the article), and CITI are used without the article.

In your example, ECSU, since it has to do with a college, has apparently

OttoJ-the UK/US-the UN-the CIADoes your answer mean I can omit the THEs above?

No; I said generally, not universally: NATO, UNESCO, ACTRA

Mr M also mentioned http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/acronym, not abbreviations in general.

the International Herald Tribune

In dictionaries, I find the name with THE, but the abbreviation without THE, does it mean the full names requires THE, and the abbreviation requires the lack thereof?

Do you mean 'the IHT'? Strange to abbreviate a newspaper, but use 'the'.

My sentences:

-The government has decided to implement (the) Individual Travel/Visit etc Scheme.
-The government has decided to implement (the) ITS/(the) IVS.

Are THEs optionals?

Thank you.

OttoJAre THEs optionals?

I say 'no'. Keep them.

AnonymousIn your example, ECSU, since it has to do with a college, has apparently become like an abbreviation for a college, like UCLA, and is not used with the article.

For Exter College, we never use THE, so ECSU could take THE or take no THE.

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