Marlborough has never been frightened of change.  Numerous academic initiatives have been fostered at the College (for example, Business Studies, SMP Maths, Combined Science and the teaching of Arabic and Chinese) and in 1968 Marlborough was one of the first of the traditional boys' boarding schools to admit girls into the Sixth Form.

In 1989, the College went fully co-educational with the admission of girls into the Lower School and with the establishment of the first of the all-girl boarding houses.

Today the College caters for about 870 pupils (of which just over a third are girls) and the great majority of which (98%) are boarders.  These are accommodated in 14 boarding houses of which 4 are all-girls, 5 are all-boys and the remaining 5 houses have 13-18 year old boys with a number of Sixth Form girls as well.